Chuck versus the Plan B
by KuryakinGirl
Summary: Everybody knows everything by now, right? About everybody else? Maybe not.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer—Recognizable characters belong to Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. No copyright infringement intended. Any similarity to events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Author's Notes—I really can't thank the wonderfully talented Brandywine00 enough for all the generous assisting in the beta-reading department. And I apologize for having such a long space between stories! But, here we are, back again, and the muse is rockin' at the next one already, so maybe I can complete both of these before Season 4 begins... Muahaha... _ahem_.

Spoilers—Um. Yeah, we're so far off the reservation at this point... From canon, we are accepting that Sarah is now living with Chuck. We have not yet reached the time of the finale events, however. I can also tell you that this follows Chuck versus the Paranoia, Chuck versus the False Alarm and Chuck versus the Saint. :)

Chuck versus the Plan B—Everybody knows everything by now, right? About everybody else? Maybe not.

* * *

He was just putting his key in the lock of his apartment door when he heard them.

It was very clear, the sound of soft whispers, accented by the occasional giggle. Perhaps the most noticeable of all, however, were the smiles. Even without seeing who was holding the hushed conversation in the corner of the courtyard, he could tell that the conspirators were grinning from ear to ear.

As he turned, however, the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

The words his partner had said in a phone conversation not that long ago came back to haunt him with abandon: _This changes things_.

John Casey hadn't realized that the changes would include this particular scene playing out in front of him, his new girlfriend-although he wondered if he could call her that; it had only been one date-in quiet confidence with his partner.

His partner who happened to be the girlfriend of _his _girlfriend's brother.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were talking about, but he was fairly certain his pride would prefer the conversation to end, and sooner rather than later.

What concerned him the most was that, when he'd stepped out, Sarah Walker and Ellie Bartowski's whispers had dropped to even softer tones. And, when Chuck Bartowski emerged from his apartment across the courtyard, their conversation completely ended.

The awkwardness bubbled through the fountain, overflowing into the courtyard, filling it whole. While it didn't seem to bother the ladies who were _still_ grinning, it was clear from the stunted way Chuck moved away from his door that it was affecting the Intersect adversely.

"Sarah?" Chuck asked.

Ellie smiled at the blonde. "We'll talk later," she whispered.

Sarah grinned, glancing from her partner to her boyfriend and back again, which only confirmed Casey's suspicions.

With Sarah's fingers entwined with Chuck's, the two made their way out of the courtyard and into the bright, sunshiny morning outside the apartment complex.

Casey watched as the two left, but he lingered. After all, he had a feeling he knew exactly what Ellie and Sarah were whispering about. The night before had been pretty magical, if he said so himself. A romantic, candle-lit dinner at a seaside restaurant, followed by a cozy movie, capped off with an hour under the stars, sitting in the courtyard, at the base of the fountain, quietly talking and holding hands.

He cleared his throat. "So, how'd you sleep?"

"Once I got to sleep, just fine," she admitted, looking up at him. "It just took a while to get there."

He offered her a rare grin before he confessed: "Same here."

"Off to the Buy More?"

He grunted sadly.

Setting her coffee mug on the planter at her feet, she reached up and straightened the collar of his green polo. "Have a good day?"

He nodded. "Stay safe."

She smiled up at him.

It was a knowing smile, and he was sure he knew why. After all, he had clearly telegraphed the concern for her safety. She'd been a target more than once in the past year, and she'd chosen to stay close to her family, to Chuck. To him.

"I will be," she said, "but I'll be home late."

"I've got a mission after my shift anyway."

"Someday, you'll just have one job, won't you?" she asked. "I can't imagine sixteen-, eighteen-, even twenty-hour days are too healthy, particularly how often you do them consecutively."

"I'll keep that in mind, Doc," he promised, pulling her closer. "Though, I'm sure if I were to need, say, a tune-up... someone might help me out?"

She grinned. "I dunno, Colonel. I might be a little... annoyed... at someone ignoring my advice by then."

"Well, we can't have that, now, can we?"

She shook her head. "You're in the military, you're supposed to be good with orders, right?"

He arched an eyebrow. "You're ordering me around now?"

She rested a hand on his chest, letting her thumb graze over the cotton-covered muscle. "Just to take care of yourself. And Chuck."

"Consider it done," he said softly.

She rocked up on her toes, stealing a quick kiss. "You better get going, Marine, don't want you to be late," she murmured.

"Aye, aye."

* * *

Chuck was uncharacteristically quiet on the drive to the mall. Sarah kept glancing at him in the rear view mirror. He didn't even seem to notice that. All he did was stare out the front windshield, his mouth turned down somewhat, his eyes narrowed, his brow drawn together.

"You want to tell me about it?"

Pulled from his thoughts, his face eased slightly as he looked at her. "What?"

"What are you thinking?"

He shook his head.

"Chuck..."

"Nothing, Sarah."

"You were fine this morning when we woke up," she said, referring to their new living arrangements. Their living _together _arrangements. "You were fine when I got up to take a shower, when I got out of the shower... you were fine when I told you I was going to wait for you outside..."

"I'm still fine," he insisted.

It was the insistence, the fact that he simply _wasn't_ that was bothering her. "No, you're not," she said finally. "Is this about Casey?" At the mention of her NSA counterpart, Chuck winced. "I thought you were okay with his dating your sister."

"I thought I was," he admitted. "I'm not so sure anymore."

"What changed?"

_The fact that they actually went on a date_, he thought morosely. He shrugged.

She sighed heavily. "I wish you'd talk to me."

* * *

Lester nudged Jeff's shoulder as he was carefully stacking the display of new iPods. The empty cardboard box tower came crumbling around them.

Jeff's entire posture slumped for a half a beat before he shrugged. If anyone, like Big Mike or Morgan, were to ask, he'd just call it modern art. He'd buy that. "What?"

"Take a look at our fearless leader over there," Lester said, narrowing his eyes critically towards the lanky geek behind the Nerd Herd desk.

"What about him?" Jeff asked, clearly not seeing what his friend was.

"Note the angry shoulders, the tense muscles in his jaw, but, most importantly, Jefferson, look at the eyes."

Jeff tried to see what Lester was pointing out, but it still just looked like Chuck to him. "Uh... Okay..."

"Note the way they're following a certain, shall we say, _appliance salesman_ as he crosses the floor, moving merchandise from the sales display to the check out, from the back room to the top shelf... He knows."

"Who knows what?"

Lester took a slow breath. "Watch and learn, would you? And work on your long-term memory skills."

"Mom always said I got dropped on my head too many times as a child," Jeff said, blinking his eyes so slowly they did so virtually independently of each other.

"Not a stretch of the imagination by _any_ means," Lester said before heading towards the Nerd Herd desk. He leaned against it casually for a moment. "Trouble in paradise?" he asked knowingly.

Chuck sat up a little straighter, pulling his eyes from a certain green-shirted co-worker and looking at the list of jobs to be completed that sat in front of him. "Don't know what you're talking about," he said.

Lester scoffed. "Of course not," he said smoothly. "There's never _anything_ going on around here..."

Chuck crossed off the CD drive replacement. He'd done that when he'd walked in. He wanted to just ignore them. Getting sucked into the world of Jeffster! was never something he wanted to participate in willingly. Except, the more he tried to pretend they weren't there, the harder that became. He regarded them both coolly. "What do you two know?"

Jeff finally remembered what he and Lester had discovered and smiled an evil smirk over at Lester, who returned it, but neither answered.

"Oh-ho, no. No, no. You've started us down this path. You spit it out," Chuck said, tossing his pen back on the desk.

"It's just that we know Ellie is back on the market," Jeff said.

While he didn't want to know the answer, he felt he really needed to know it. "How did you guys hear about that?" He watched, somewhat amused, as their expressions turned from smug to nervous.

"It was Morgan," Jeff blurted out.

"Yeah, yeah, Morgan," Lester backed up. "Morgan was spilling his guts. He really needs to learn a little more self-control. I mean, he's the assistant manager now. He's had that position for a while and he really... He really ought to be setting a better example for those of us beneath him on the career ladder. I should know! I should definitely know, having been assistant manager once. You really can't understand or comprehend the _stresses_ of that job until you've walked a mile in that vest."

"Yeah," Chuck said, disbelieving. "Sure."

"You're worried about Elizabeth," Lester said, moving on quickly.

"Well, for starters, it's Eleanor-"

"We can _help_ you," Lester said, ignoring Chuck's correction.

Chuck couldn't help but think that Lester's offer sounded somewhat snake-like, very sneaky. "I am well aware of your certain and, oftentimes, _frightening_ skill set, gentlemen, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but... _what_ are you two talking about?"

Lester and Jeff exchanged glances. Lester shrugged. "We might've taken it upon ourselves, the _liberty_ if you will, to... preemptively... check out the situation."

Chuck was fairly certain he knew what that meant, but he had to be certain: "Are you saying that you're _stalking_ my sister?"

"No," Jeff said, shaking his head.

Lester shook his as well, but after a stern look from Chuck, he caved. "We may have sat in the van across the street from your apartment last night. We might've seen Ellie climbing out of the passenger seat of a certain late-model Ford Crown Victoria-"

"Black," Jeff added.

Lester barely missed a beat. "-registered to a certain imposing ape-man who sells large home appliances at a mediocre-sized electronics store in a downtown Burbank mall..."

"Why your sister would ever go for John Crazy... makes no sense."

"Makes some sense," Chuck said, finding himself defending Casey by default as he tried to defend Ellie.

"She's a doctor. A pillar of the community! She was married to another doctor, another pillar. Together, they were... they were two pillars, standing tall... together. But, she dumps the smart, handsome, rock hard doctor and winds up going out on a date with our very own John Crazy? Quite clearly, the least appealing member of our Buy More team, a cold, detached man, with much the personality of the inedible yogurt your girlfriend sells across the parking lot."

"If pretty girls dug ugly guys like him, then Lester and I would have to be beating them away with a stick. It's an abomination, your sister with... with... _him_," he said, disgusted.

"It's really..." Chuck shook his head. "That's really harsh, guys. And we shouldn't... We shouldn't be talking about my sister anyway," Chuck said, getting to his feet.

"You brought it up," Jeff commented.

"No, no," Chuck said, shaking his head. "You two had to bring up the fact that you'd managed to stalk my sister without her knowledge, or Casey's knowledge... and if you want to keep breathing, I'd suggest _not_ stalking either of them. Because, well, as you said, Casey has a tendency to be..." Chuck drifted off.

"Crazy," Jeff provided.

"Exactly."

* * *

It was back, the awkwardness. But this time, instead of being centered in the courtyard fountain, it was centered at the conference table in the middle of the Castle base. It was so palatable this time that Sarah couldn't help but wonder if they would be able to handle the mission that evening.

"Simple op, really," Casey said, spreading the blueprints of the bus station out in front of them. "Our target will be coming in from the west entrance. He's supposed to meet his contact here," he said, pointing towards the center of the terminal. I'll take care of the contact. Bartowski, you'll take over the meet, and Walker will run back up from the van. Piece of cake."

"What if they show up at the same time?" asked Chuck.

"They won't."

"Yeah, but.. They might. Maybe even just like two seconds apart. That's virtually the same time," Chuck countered sounding, to Sarah, amazingly three-year-old-like.

Sarah cleared her throat. "Contact will be there first. It's protocol; it's standard operating procedure."

Chuck deflated.

Casey narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to figure out what Chuck was playing at because he was fairly certain it wasn't actually the mission. "You and the contact look close enough alike, once you get into position, you can intercept the target."

"What if I can't?" Chuck challenged.

"It's the job, Bartowski," Casey said through clenched teeth. "If you can't _do_ the job, then I'll find an agent who can."

Sarah finally moved between them. "C'mon, Chuck," she said, gently easing him away from the table.

"Where are we going?" the Nerd Herd geek asked.

"To cool down," she said, pushing Chuck further back into the Castle.

"I'm perfectly fine!"

"I can see that," she said sarcastically. She glanced over her shoulder, glad to see that Casey was staying put. Once she knew they were out of earshot, she stopped.

"Sarah, what, exactly, was the point of that?"

"This... whatever you and Casey have going on... This is about Ellie," Sarah said, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

"What?"

"You're upset."

"I'm not upset!"

His face was red, his heart rate and blood pressure were elevated. Of course he was fine. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to take a slow, calming breath.. "Chuck, I'm your partner, I'm your girlfriend. Pick either of those reasons to tell me the truth. Picking both would be best."

"I'm not _upset_ about Ellie."

"About Ellie _and_ Casey, then," Sarah countered, not willing to let Chuck take a pass on semantics.

Chuck opened his mouth to protest that one, but couldn't quite.

"How hard is it to tell me the truth about this?"

"What do you want me to say, Sarah?" Chuck asked. "I'm not fond of the idea."

"Why not? You wouldn't say this morning. You won't say now. We have to work together, all three of us. Casey's just trying to outline the op-"

"And I think I was asking rather pertinent questions-"

"You may have been, but the _tone_ you were using to ask... Chuck, it's pretty clear what your feelings are about Casey at the moment. And given the way the Intersect works, given the lack of sleep you've been getting here lately, I think... I think you need to really self-evaluate here. Because I'm not sure if you're capable of flashing."

Chuck quieted.

* * *

The SUV ride to the train station was silent. Casey was content to let it be that way. Sarah kept occasionally glancing back at Chuck, as he sat in the back seat. He didn't seem to be quite as upset as he'd been earlier, or as aloof as he'd been that ride into work that morning. But he was still off. There was still something that wasn't quite _her_ Chuck.

As Casey was pulling the car into a parking spot by the rear entrance, Chuck opened his door and climbed out of the still-moving vehicle.

"Bartowski?" Casey asked, glancing at him, puzzled.

"See you inside," Chuck said, slamming the door closed before stalking off towards the east entrance.

Casey glanced at his partner, one eyebrow raised.

"Don't ask," she said. "I'm trying."

Casey exited the car, walking with Sarah towards the rear entrance. "This is about Ellie, isn't it?"

While it might've sounded like a question to the untrained ear, Sarah knew very well it was a statement on Casey's part. "I think Chuck's not quite warmed up to the idea as much as we-and he-thought he had."

Casey grunted. _Nothing's ever easy_, he decided.

* * *

It was time to play _Let's Make a Deal_. At least, the introductory part of the game. He straightened his cufflinks and smoothed his tie. He needed to look like someone who could produce hundreds of thousands of dollars at the snap of his fingers. Technically, it took a requisition request from Beckman, which was, in no way, like having magically appearing money. There were often questions of transporting the money, of how the money was going to be returned to the US Treasury Department and the like. He wasn't sure how many hands the approval had to go through but he knew it was, most definitely, more than just his.

In his casual glances around the terminal, he kept an eye out for his target, Marcus Finch. He was a tall gentleman, average weight, with close-cropped blonde hair, wide blue eyes and an engaging smile. It screamed _used car salesman_ at Chuck at the briefing, but what did he know?

Well, he knew that he wasn't sure what he felt about Ellie and Casey dating, but that was another matter entirely.

With a deep sigh, he kept his dark brown eyes on alert for his mark.

He spotted Casey easily who had taken up residence at the east entrance. Sarah was across the terminal. It appeared like she was just casually resting on a bench, but he could tell that she was probably more aware than anyone else in the entire station.

When he looked again towards Casey, he noticed that the Marine was gone. He didn't have time to fully process or figure out if Casey had found his mark because there was suddenly a confident voice in his ear.

"Mr. Billings?"

Chuck froze for a half second before turning, spotting his used car salesman. His mark had crept up on him. He turned, cordially dipping his head. "Mr. Finch."

Finch turned on the charm. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Same," Chuck said, accepting Finch's proffered hand.

"Seems I have something you want and you have something I want."

"So it would."

"I tell you, what, though," Finch said, motioning Chuck over to a table outside a coffee stand. "I've had a lot of interest in my acquired merchandise," he said, easing to sit.

"I can imagine," Chuck said evenly, joining his target at the table. "It's something my employers have sought after for years." Well, really, his employers had only been after it for a week. That's how long nuclear physicist Nathan York had been missing.

"Here's the thing. Bad business, I know, but these others have increased the price considerably."

He heard a voice in his ear crackle gently to life. "Don't negotiate, Chuck," Sarah murmured.

"Oh, have they?"

"So, I'm afraid I can't offer it to you any longer. I'm taking their bid."

"Well, that really is too bad. My employers would've loved to have a secure pipeline for such merchandise," Chuck said.

The smile never wavered from Finch's face, but there was a hint of something in his eyes, something Chuck couldn't quite discern. "Now, that is interesting, Mr. Billings."

"But, if the merchandise is gone, and there's no shot at any others..." Chuck drifted off with a shrug, getting to his feet.

"There is a pipeline, and I can guarantee its security."

It was Casey this time in his ear: "Steady, Bartowski."

"I'm sure my employers would believe that. If they had the original merchandise and at the original price, of course."

"Tell you what," Finch said, leaning forward again. "I'm meeting the other buyer, two nights from now, Club Azure. You show up, nine o'clock. I'll have the merchandise. We'll see who comes out on top."

"I can assure you," Chuck said, accepting Finch's hand again. "It'll be my employers."

Finch grinned. "I like you, Mr. Billings. I'm going to like working with you."

"Nice work, Chuck," Sarah murmured over the radio.

Chuck just nodded. "Monday night. Club Azure. Nine PM."

* * *

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next installment:

"Haven't seen you for a while," she said, filling a mug with black, bitter coffee.

The cafe was practically dead. A pair of teenagers sat in the very back, giggling over something. A young woman sat at the front window with her laptop, her nimble fingers pecking across the keys. No one seemed to mind that their conversation carried.

"I wasn't feeling well for a while," he lied-well, _half_-lied.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," she said, setting the coffee down in front of him. "Pie?"

"I'm thinking," he said, looking at the menu.

"You always get the same thing..."

"Someday, I may surprise you."


	2. Chapter 2

For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Ellie and Casey have their first date, which turns into awkwardness for Team Bartowski. Chuck's torn, between defending his sister and being mad at Casey when Jeff and Lester try to offer an intervention. The mission prep, while painful, pays off as they work to rescue kidnapped physicist Nathan York.

* * *

The sweet, round-faced nurse leaned against the counter, watching Ellie with interest.

"Yes?" Ellie finally asked, closing one chart and picking up the next.

"I'm just wondering," Mandy said.

"About what?"

"About how it was last night?"

Ellie took a slow, deliberate deep breath.

"Oh, come on..."

The problem, Ellie knew, was that anything she said could be easily taken out of context. Anything she said could've easily been spread across the entire hospital before the hour was up. And, out of respect for Devon, she wanted desperately to keep those whispers to a minimum. She didn't want questions being asked, she didn't want things getting around. "I'm sorry, Mandy."

"No kissing and telling?" she asked with a grin.

"No telling if there was any kissing or not," Ellie said before breezing towards one of the triage rooms.

Mandy fell in step behind her. "Are you going to see him again?"

"Mandy..."

"That's the _tiniest_ of details out there..."

Ellie stopped. When she spoke, her voice was clear, but quiet, kind, but to the point. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I don't want to talk about it. I know a lot of people still love Devon, a lot of people aren't sure what happened between us, and I don't want to get into it, I don't want to muddy the waters or create lines where people feel they have to pick sides."

"I don't think that's the situation you're going to find yourself in, Dr. B."

She smiled gently. "I hope so."

Mandy, undaunted, came up with a great idea. "Well, listen, a couple of us are getting together Monday night after work. Two for one drink night, no cover charge... You should come with us."

Ellie hesitated.

"We won't pressure you for information or anything. Just come with, have fun. You might like it," Mandy said with a smile.

She had always turned down the opportunities for the past two years. The first year, she was engaged, busy with planning and dealing with impending in-laws. The second year, she was married, busy with the whole idea of being married. And with trying not to get kidnapped. But now, things were different. Now, she was single, so why not? "I'll be there."

Mandy grinned excitedly. "Bring your party dress, we go from here."

Ellie laughed. "All right, all right," she said, before disappearing into the patient room.

* * *

Casey sat in the Castle. All of the gear from the night's mission had been stored and put away. The debriefing had gone without a hitch. Beckman seemed pleased, particularly for Casey's first mission back since he'd been shot. The only thing left to do was wait for the pick-up team to come by and grab the would-be buyer of their nuclear physicist.

The awkwardness, which had eased somewhat in the moments immediately following the mission, had slowly seeped back into the room. It was so subtle that, at first, none of them realized it was there, until there was a moment where Casey and Chuck were both heading for the main corridor and they nearly bumped into each other.

For a moment, Sarah wondered if they weren't about to experience some physics in the middle of the hallway there. Spontaneous human combustion, perhaps.

Chuck, who would've normally backed down, didn't.

When Casey started to walk again, and Chuck blocked him a second time, the Marine stopped. "You got something to say, Bartowski?"

Chuck thought for a moment, then shook his head.

Casey caught Sarah watching them out of the corner of his eye. She looked like she was holding her breath, like World War III might break out in the conference room of the Castle. While he hated giving up ground, he let Chuck go down the hallway. Instead of following the lanky geek, however, Casey crossed towards his partner.

"I think he's upset."

Casey narrowed his eyes slightly. "What was your first clue?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't make me pick his side."

"What are we picking sides for anyway?" Casey asked, leaning against the conference table.

"Chuck isn't quite as accustomed to the idea of your dating his sister yet."

"But, he said-"

"What he said was immediately after he thought you were going to die," she reminded.

He grumbled.

"It made sense at the time. He felt guilty for your being hurt. He wanted you to feel better. Ellie makes you feel better... But, you're up and you're walking around and talking and you're back at work and everything is seemingly right in the world again, so, in Chuck's world, I'm sure it's 'right' for Ellie to be with Awesome."

"Woodcomb took the job of his own free will. Nobody forced him to join the CIA."

"If Chuck is taking issue with that, he's not said."

"He's not said much of anything," Casey said.

"Well, true," Sarah relented. "But, I think really, it's more the fact that it's, well, _true_ now. It's real. You're in Ellie's life and she's in yours, and we're all in this together. There is no theoretical portion of it. It's not just something we've all been thinking about. It's something we can all see now."

Casey was quiet.

Sarah was getting tired of quiet from both her partners. "Casey...?"

"Hm?"

"What?"

Casey just looked at her. "Nothing."

* * *

He sat at his desk, thumbing through the contacts in his iPhone while mentally counting the money to be made from his transactions. And the fact that Billings wanted a steady stream? He'd be able to retire in no time, leaving his criminal empire for the next entrepreneur to take over.

There was a brief pause in his mental picture, a few coins dropped from his frozen hand.

_Or_, the greedy side of his heart purred, _you can continue to rake in money hand over fist_.

Finch grinned as he found his contact, pressing the send button. He leaned back in his chair, propping his loafers up on the blotter. "Mr. Yi. Finch here. Change in plans. The exchange will take place Monday night, nine o'clock. Place called Club Azure."

* * *

Ellie walked tiredly through the courtyard towards her door. The words she'd shared with Mandy earlier kept ringing in her ears. She wouldn't be able to avoid it entirely, no matter how much she wanted to. At some point, something would come out about her relationship with Casey. At some point, something would come out about the dissolving of her marriage to Devon. The question became: did she want to control the release or not? Controlling the information gave her a position of power. The wait-and-see approach, while probably appropriate _before_ her first date since her divorce, didn't seem too prudent at the moment.

She scratched at her throat.

As much as she thought her life would be easier with the truth out, it didn't seem to be the case. There were still issues. It seemed like there were _more_ issues. She was certain it wasn't anything she _couldn't _handle, but she realized that Devon had probably gotten off easiest.

A whirlwind life, all the adrenaline he could ever want, and hundreds if not thousands of miles away from everyone he'd ever known.

She'd had the option. Sarah had told her what would be required, what would happen.

But, how could she leave? How could she leave the only home she'd ever known, the only family she had in the world?

Well, she had her father, but he was off somewhere odd, only reachable by encoded classified advertisements. That wasn't normal. The only thing even remotely close to normal was the apartment complex. The courtyard, the Sunday dinners, the camaraderie of the family that didn't end with blood. That was home.

Even if that meant including Morgan.

* * *

It was late, and he should've just gone on home, but he had to make a stop. It wasn't out of his way, really.

He knew her schedule. Which days she worked, which days she had classes. This was one of the few nights she worked.

She smiled brightly at him as he entered. "Hey, John! Your table's open," she said, nodding towards what was, indeed, his favorite spot.

"Thanks, Alex," he said, crossing towards it and taking a seat.

"Haven't seen you for a while," she said, filling a mug with black, bitter coffee.

The cafe was practically dead. A pair of teenagers sat in the very back, giggling over something. A young woman sat at the front window with her laptop, her nimble fingers pecking across the keys. No one seemed to mind that their conversation carried.

"I wasn't feeling well for a while," he lied-well, _half_-lied.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," she said, setting the coffee down in front of him. "Pie?"

"I'm thinking," he said, looking at the menu.

"You always get the same thing..."

"Someday, I may surprise you."

"Someday," she acknowledged.

He cleared his throat, closing the menu. "How's the pecan pie here?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Living dangerously, are we?"

He shrugged.

She eased to sit down in the empty chair across from him. "Months, you come in here, getting the same thing every time. Something big would've had to have happened to make you change your order."

Casey hesitated. It was, quite possibly, the biggest change in his life. Other than, of course, realizing he had a _daughter_.

A daughter who sometimes had his facial expressions, who had his blue eyes. A daughter who was sharp as a tack and smart as a whip. A daughter who had dreams and goals all her own, who was going places.

A daughter his girlfriend didn't know about yet.

Alex suddenly gasped.

"What?"

"I got it!"

"Got what?" he asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

"It's a girl!"

There was no way she could know that... was there? "What?"

"You've got a _girlfriend_," she said. "And my guess is pecan's her favorite. And you're thinking of bringing her by for a bite, maybe a cup of coffee... This is one of the best date spots, I can guarantee it. I mean, look back there," she said, nodding towards the kids in the back booth. "They're here _every_ Saturday night. Every Saturday night, the same thing. Chicken strips and fries for the girl, a double cheeseburger for him. A slice of lemon meringue to split between them. Sweet kids, really."

He wasn't sure she was old enough to be calling anyone a "kid" yet. She was still pretty much a kid herself.

"John, you really gotta bring her by! I'm dying to meet her."

"I'll see what I can do," he said, looking back at the menu again.

"What's her name?"

"We've just been on one date. I don't think she can necessarily be quantified in that way, as my... girlfriend." He hadn't said it aloud very often. He'd considered it often, but saying it made it real. And he wasn't sure if it was real yet.

"Well, _quantified_ or not, the woman does have a name."

Casey glanced at her.

Alex grinned. "Uh-huh. And that name would be... what? Don't make me guess!"

Casey couldn't believe he was telling her this, but he finally answered: "Ellie."

"Ellie. That's a pretty name. Ellie and John. John and Ellie." She nodded. "I like it."

He wouldn't have imagined that it would be somehow important to him, to have her approval, but it made him feel better. He decided he would blame it on the fact that Chuck had been odd all day not that it was nice, to have support from his family. He closed the menu.

She smiled. "So, your usual? Or you wanna try to pecan, to make sure it's edible, that she might like it?"

"If you say the pecan is good, I trust you."

Alex got to her feet. "Apple it is."

* * *

Sarah sat on the chair, watching as Chuck mindlessly played some video game she wasn't even remotely interested in. She'd learned a little about a couple different ones, mostly from listening to Chuck drone on about the various titles with his roommate and best friend in the world, Morgan Grimes.

She'd watched him play numerous times. She was well aware of the differences in his expressions, when he was actually geeked and excited to play versus using it as an escape, either to avoid thinking about something or to prevent a discussion he didn't want to have. This was definitely the latter. It was easy for her to tell, because even the tiniest of errors he was making in the game, he was disproportionately aggravated.

"Chuck..."

"Hm?" he responded vacantly.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Don't know what _it_ you're referring to, but I'm pretty sure there's no _it_ I want to talk about."

Sarah sighed softly. "Chuck..."

"Sarah, I really... I'm playin' this thing..."

"You aren't hiding it very well," she told him.

Frustrated, he watched as his character died. "Thought I said I didn't want to talk about it. Any its."

"Unfortunately, this has the potential to interfere with our work. And I can't allow that to happen."

"Sarah," Chuck said, placing the controller on the coffee table. "Nothing's going to interfere with work."

"It already has," Sarah said as gently as she could.

"Well, don't worry. Because it won't again," Chuck said, getting to his feet and wandering into the kitchen.

Sarah followed him, because Chuck seemed to be hiding behind the refrigerator door. "I know that you're upset."

"I'm not upset," Chuck lied. He made the mistake of looking at her, at seeing her disbelieving expression. "I'm... If I'm upset, I'm upset because you're thinking I'm upset when I'm, clearly, not... upset..." He could tell, too, that she was still unconvinced.

"If this is going to become a serious problem, the relationship between your sister and Casey, then-"

"It's not going to be a situation. It's not a situation. Period, end of discussion. It's... it's nothing."

"Chuck-"

"Look, it's... it's my sister's life, right? She can date whoever she wants."

"But, it's _affecting_ you."

"I just... I tried to keep the spy part out of my sister's life. And she's willingly and happily and... unabashedly welcoming it. I mean, think about all the things that have happened to him? Just since we've known him. Or, me. Me, just since I've known him. You've known him longer, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"He's been shot. I mean, if that's not indicative of, y'know, the ability of his life to be completely fleeting... Y'know? And that was exactly the thing that Ellie didn't like about Devon. The death-defying stuff. Devon did it on the weekends. Casey does it on a daily basis. And twice on Mondays!"

"So, are you mad at Casey for being a spy? Or are you mad at Ellie for accepting him for who he is? Or are you mad at something else entirely?"

"I'm not mad! I'm not mad, I'm not upset. All right, probably _both_ in all honesty. It just... Why would she do that? Why would she go for some guy that does more dangerous stuff than Devon could ever dream of doing? Why would Casey go for my sister? He's... He's not even remotely in her league. She's beautiful and smart and wonderful and he's... he's a jarhead. He's a guy who's not in-touch with his emotions, who is a big, angry ball of angst most days."

"Love makes you do funny things."

Chuck winced. "One date doesn't constitute love."

"How about six months of looking out for each other?"

"Sarah," he said, sighing.

"If this is going to continue to be a problem, then we're going to have to report this to Beckman."

"Beckman..." Chuck said slowly. "Beckman who's already waiting for him to mess up again after the whole Laudanol, super soldier serum pill episode thing."

Sarah nodded.

Chuck let out an annoyed growl. A Casey-esque one which only served to infuriate him further. "I don't want to get him fired or decommissioned or whatever it is that can happen to a Marine Colonel in the NSA."

"Beckman said any toe out of line, no matter what, would constitute an instant dismissal."

Chuck remembered the incident, the _near_ firing. It had been intense and scary. It had been one hell of a wild ride, when they thought Casey had gone rogue. When they'd learned about Casey's former fiancee, when they'd learned about Casey's _daughter. _ Beckman had stuck her neck on the line for Casey because he was a good Marine, a loyal one. One mistake wouldn't kill a career, not when the intel wasn't transferred into the wrong hands. Another mistake, however, was another story.

Chuck sighed heavily, leaning against the counter. "Kinda ties our hands, huh?"

"I just want you to be fully aware of what your actions are capable of causing, of the consequences," Sarah said gently. "I just want you to think carefully before you do anything."

"So, no end-runs around Casey to the General?"

"Do you still trust him?"

Chuck looked at her, kind of shocked at the implication. "Casey?"

Sarah merely looked back at him, waiting for the answer she felt she knew was coming.

"Well... yeah..."

She nodded, getting the expected answer. "Then, talk to him."

Chuck exhaled slowly, letting his whole posture slump.

"He may be a little standoffish, a little gruff, but he has a heart."

"Yeah. One he gave to Ellie."

* * *

The writer was still there, but the teenage couple had left. And Alex helped herself to a glass of water and the seat across from Casey again. "So, what's eating you?"

Casey glanced up, startled at her intuitiveness.

"C'mon, John. Normally, you're a little talkative. This woman has you all out of sorts, huh?"

He finished another bite of of pie before glancing up at his daughter. "I have... a secret... One I haven't told her yet," he admitted.

"A secret?"

"A big one."

"You're... Elvis reincarnated!"

He shook his head.

"A prince from some far-off foreign land?"

"Proud to be an American," he told her.

"You're a bodyguard for some famous actor person?"

He shook his head again.

"You _are_ some famous actor person?"

"Not nearly so interesting," he admitted.

"Well, then, it can't be _too_ earth-shattering."

Casey eased a piece of the flaky crust away from the rest of the pie, chasing it around the plate with his fork. "I have a daughter," he said. "One I didn't know about."

"Whoa," Alex murmured. "How old is she?"

"Old enough. I just found out myself, not that long ago."

"Well, if you just found out about it, then... what's the problem?"

"Ellie's a good woman. Smart. With the world's biggest heart. And it's been broken before, bruised. I don't want to be the cause of that anymore, but I feel like she needs to know all the same. I'm just worried."

"If she's as awesome as you say she is, then it should be okay. Right?" She wasn't sure why he inwardly seemed to groan when she spoke.

He shrugged.

She could tell that his look darkened, that he wasn't so sure. "C'mon, John. From what I've seen, you're a catch! She'd have to be crazy not to forgive you something like that, something that _you_ didn't even know about, y'know?"

"I had no way to know. And how I found out... it was accidental," he said. "It may not even be true, but the timing, the name is right..."

She could tell this was eating at him. She reached over, placing a hand atop his that was resting on the table.

He looked up, shocked at the contact.

"Talk to her. I'm sure it'll work out."

Slowly, he nodded.

* * *

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next installment:

"Names aren't _that_ important."

"Says the woman who's had more than she can count," he said gently. "I spend so much time lying to everyone else, I don't want to lie to her. She's... She's different. She deserves better than that."

"Why didn't you tell her about your daughter before? Why'd you wait until now?"

"She was still married to Devon then. I didn't think I'd ever have the possibility for _forever_ with her. But, now that there was even the remotest chance, I had to tell her."

"What happened to that chance, though, with the truth out?"

He shrugged.


	3. Chapter 3

For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Ellie gets questioned at the hospital by a well-meaning coworker about her date. Chuck and Casey are still at odds. Mr. Finch, the procurer, has a money-making idea and invites others to crash the meeting Chuck set up earlier at Club Azure for Monday. Sarah gets Chuck to confess that he's having issues with Ellie and Casey's new relationship. Alex gets Casey to confess that he's having concerns, too.

* * *

Casey was up long before the sun that Sunday morning. He hadn't slept well. While he'd enjoyed his conversation with Alex, he was still keeping all sorts of lies. He hadn't told Ellie about his daughter. He hadn't told _his daughter_ that he was her father. He'd never had any issues before, with keeping a cover straight. But, this wasn't a cover. This was _his_ life.

So, he sat at his computer, staring at the screen. He'd attempted to distract himself with the blueprints and layouts for Club Azure. It wouldn't hurt to have all his homework done early so he could review it often. But, the more he looked at the screen, the more he found himself distracted. And that wouldn't be good for any of them.

He couldn't help but run through the various worst-case scenarios. That was his job. He was good at it. _Game theorist. _It said so on his NSA dossier.

The reactions he kept seeing in his mind were mildly different but had so many of the same elements. He saw a lot of hurt. Some tears. Stunned silence.

He ran his hands over his face, like that could somehow erase the past fifteen attempts he'd run through in his brain to try to tell her the truth. Each time, it seemed, the reactions got worse. Each time, the reactions were more gut wrenching. Each time, he regretted telling her.

But, it was killing him, the prospect of _not_ telling her. She deserved to know. She deserved to live her life fully in the light as opposed to the shadows he continued to throw.

Getting to his feet, maybe he'd take her out for breakfast...

No. If he dropped that bombshell there, she might think that he'd done that intentionally, to quell any reaction she might have.

Maybe he'd just bring over a cup of coffee...

No. He looked at his coffee pot. He drank his so dark and so bitter that he couldn't imagine she'd like it. He could sour the mood before he even got started.

Maybe he'd just stop acting like a damned teenage _girl_, get over his fears, suck it up and get it over with.

He nodded to himself before crossing towards his door.

It was still early, and he had the potential to ruin a perfectly good Sunday, but he needed to. He needed Ellie to know exactly what she was getting into, exactly what, or who, he was. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the courtyard and purposefully strode towards her apartment.

Except, the closer he got, the slower he walked.

_Pansy-ass, bleeding-heart chicken,_ he chastised himself.

"Casey?"

He stopped, glancing over, spotting Chuck at the open door. "Bartowski."

"Got a second?"

Casey nodded slowly, changing course to meet Chuck halfway.

"About yesterday..."

The Marine said nothing, interested more in what the kid had to say, what he might volunteer.

Chuck sighed, seeming to deflate a little. "I don't want there to be... weirdness... in the team, y'know? I mean, there's nobody I trust with my life more than you and Sarah and Morgan. You took a bullet for me. That's... Out of all the things you've done to save me in the past three years, that's... That takes the cake, buddy." Chuck fully expected an accepting grunt but was surprised to see the older man nod slightly. "And I don't want that to change. I don't want some other NSA guy to roll in here and take your place because, well... he couldn't. You're pretty irreplaceable. It's just... weird."

Casey cleared his throat. "Well, maybe I can remove the weirdness for you."

Chuck narrowed his eyes slightly at his NSA protector. "What do you mean, exactly?"

"There was no reason, really, to tell Ellie before, but I need to tell her now."

"Tell her what?" Chuck asked, his confusion morphing into concern.

"About Alex."

"Oh," Chuck said, his eyes wide. "Are you... are you sure that's the greatest idea ever? Because I'm thinking maybe that _wouldn't_ be something that you would _necessarily_ have to tell."

"I'm not going to lie to your sister. Not anymore."

"But, that's... that's like Fat Man _and_ Little Boy, all the destructing power the Manhattan Project gave us in the '40s, released in this apartment complex! There'd be nothing left. The fallout has the potential to destroy for... well, _forever_, after that."

"I'm aware," Casey admitted.

"I know! I know, let me get Sarah out here to tell you how bad of an idea this is. I mean, some lies are okay. Little ones. Teeny ones. Like... C'mon, no woman expects a truthful answer when she asks if she looks big in that dress. They fully expect you to lie! And you, being the _spy_ that you are, you'd be able to offer the most believing, the most convincing lies, like, _ever_."

"I don't think my having a _child_ is a small fib."

"Well, she's not so small, really..." Sensing he was about to lose Casey, he spoke again, quickly. "I just... Please, don't do it," Chuck tried.

"Which is it, _Chuck_? You want me to break her heart now? Or later?"

"Preferably? Never. I'm thinking _never_ is a very good time for her heart to break."

"I can't guarantee that."

"I don't see why you couldn't."

Casey's civility was starting to wane. He could feel himself reaching his boiling point. "I've made up my mind, Bartowski. I'm going to tell her everything."

"Casey..." He watched, mildly horrified, as the Marine turned on his heel to walk away. "Wait, wait, Casey, hold up... Hold up here, big guy," he said, reaching out to try to stop him. "We could... we could puzzle this through, we could chat a little more, y'know..."

"The only Bartowski I feel like talking to this morning is Ellie," he said flatly, looking back at Chuck.

"I just... this... This won't end well."

"I know," Casey said before finally reaching Ellie's door.

"Case-" He stopped in mid-syllable. It was too late. The big guy's fist had connected with his sister's door. Sighing and muttering a curse, he slipped back into his apartment.

* * *

Ellie glanced up from her coffee and muffin when she heard the knock at her door. She bit her lower lip, hopeful that it was a certain Colonel dropping by unannounced. When she peeked through the curtains into the courtyard, she saw his familiar tall, muscular form at her doorstep and her lips broke free into a huge grin. Taking a moment to take a deep breath and calm herself back down again, she opened the door casually. "Hey, John."

"Ellie," he returned.

She could tell that some of the magic was gone from his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I was wondering," he began slowly, "if I could talk to you."

She nodded, welcoming him inside. "You want some coffee? Something to eat?"

He shook his head. He'd had enough of his coffee and he wasn't sure adding anything on top of his now churning stomach was such a brilliant idea. Certainly, no more brilliant than what he had planned for her morning.

"Sit," she said, offering him choice of seats in the living room. "What's up?"

Casey quickly took one of the arm chairs. He didn't want Ellie to have to sit close to him, and he had a feeling if he'd chosen the couch, she would've perched next to him. "Ellie, I became aware of something a little while ago, something you need to be aware of..."

"Is this some kinda... scary spy thing?" she ventured. She instantly regretted saying anything when she saw the look on his face. She knew he wasn't upset at her. He was just upset because, whatever it was he was going to tell her, it was going to take longer if she interrupted him. "Never mind," she murmured.

He swallowed hard, glancing at her before looking at the rug on the floor between them. "Before..." He cleared his throat nervously. "Before I was John Casey, I was Alexander Coburn."

"But... I met your mother..." She stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry; keep going."

"And she was Elizabeth Coburn," he said, glancing at her.

"I don't care what your name is, Marine," she said gently.

"It's more than that, though. I... I was engaged to be married, as Alex."

A dread fear took to her, pooling in her stomach. Was he married? As in not formerly but _currently_? She swallowed that question, however.

"I didn't know it, when I became John, but I have recently become aware, as in very recently, that my former fiancee, who has moved on with her life, had a child."

Ellie slowly looked up at him, praying silently that he'd look at her, too.

Casey, however, closed his eyes. "While I'm not completely certain, I'm _mostly_ certain that the child is... mine." He finished his sentence, barely above a whisper. He looked up just in time to see her eyebrows shoot up her forehead, at the shock he'd imagined a hundred times when going through this very same scenario in his head.

"So... so, this child, this... child of yours is... is how old?" she managed.

"Twenty."

"_Twenty_?" She was expecting maybe a toddler, maybe someone still in the early elementary school grades.

"It was 1989, I was in Honduras, and they offered me a position with black ops, which I took." He tried to explain quickly, because it looked like he'd punched her, physically, in the stomach. Maybe repeatedly. He hoped the explanation would remove that expression from her face because, God, he hated seeing it there. "Ellie, I didn't know she was pregnant. I thought I was doing what was best for my country, what was best for her-"

"_Twenty_..." she repeated again, in shock.

"I didn't know. I didn't know anything about her, not until a mission shortly before the one where I was shot-"

"Her?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice catching. "I have a daughter."

Ellie closed her eyes. Because, if she closed her eyes, then the room had to stop spinning. Except, it didn't. "John..."

"Ellie..."

She opened her eyes again, one hand on her stomach, the other resting against her forehead. "Please, leave..."

Casey got to his feet. He lingered only for a moment before doing as she asked.

* * *

Chuck watched from the curtains in his bedroom as Casey practically fled from Ellie's apartment. As predicted, it hadn't gone well.

"Who are you _spying_ on?" Sarah asked, poking through her drawer to find acceptable clothes to wear after her shower.

Chuck immediately snapped the curtains closed. "Nobody."

"Chuck..."

"Maybe Casey. Maybe Casey who just broke my sister's heart."

Sarah turned, resting a hand on her hip. "I thought we had this discussion last night, where you were going to talk thorough your issues."

"We did! And Casey and I talked this morning, but he just left from Ellie's after telling her about Alex."

Sarah's eyebrows drifted up her forehead.

"That's what I said! I told him not to! I'm going to go talk to Ellie-"

"Chuck..."

"Yeah?"

"Give it time."

"But-"

"Time," she insisted.

* * *

Mandy could tell Ellie was furious. While the doctor would plaster on a smiling, happy face for her bedside manner, the rest of the time, there was a tightness in Ellie's jaw, a furrow in her brow, and a general look of being lost in thought.

It had been like that for hours. While Ellie hadn't made any missteps, while she hadn't made any errors, Mandy decided to take proactive steps to help out. "Dr. B?"

Ellie didn't look up from where she scribbled in a chart. "Mm?"

"It's break time."

"I'll see you when you get back, then."

"Actually, I was thinking you should come with me."

Ellie glanced up but shook her head. "I have to harass radiology for those x-rays for the skateboarding kid."

"Scotty could always do that."

"Scotty could always do what? What could Scotty do?" asked Dr. Scott Harris. He grinned at both Mandy and Ellie.

"I'm fine, Mandy," Ellie said, closing the chart she'd been writing in and moving towards the telephone.

Mandy looked at Scott for backup.

Scott could tell, too, that something was off. Of course, none of them had realized that Devon was so close to leaving, that his marriage to Ellie was so broken it couldn't be fixed. He began scribbling on his prescription pad.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.

He tore off the top sheet, handing it to her.

It took a moment for her to decipher his handwriting. Even though he was a doctor, and most of their handwriting was terrible, his chicken-scratching easily took the cake.

_Pie, one slice. Coffee, times two. Refill at Pie Shack, as needed._

_

* * *

_

Chuck paced. "I didn't mean for it to go quite this way."

"You don't even know which way it went," Sarah reminded.

"It went very clearly badly."

"You haven't talked to Casey since he talked to Ellie. Maybe he didn't get a chance to say what he wanted to, maybe she was in a hurry, was running late for her shift..."

"No, it was early enough. She was fine. He told her," Chuck said, trying hard not to wring his hands.

"Why don't you call Ellie?"

"'Cause I don't want to bother her."

"Why don't you talk to Casey?"

He glanced back at her. "'Cause I don't want to die?"

Sarah shook her head.

"He is, potentially, a wounded animal right now. I, for one, am not going to poke the wolf when his paw is stuck in one of those nasty-looking claw traps," he said, gesturing with his curled fingers as an example.

She got to her feet, tossing the newspaper she'd been casually skimming on the table.

"Wh-where are you going?" he asked.

"To poke a wolf caught in a trap," she said simply.

Chuck watched her fretfully. "Are you so sure that's a great idea?"

"Somebody's got to let him out," she explained as she exited into the courtyard and crossed towards Casey's. She took a slow breath before knocking.

As she waited for him to open the door, she thought back. She'd felt that this was coming for a long time, Ellie and Casey's relationship. She was thrilled when it finally seemed to come to fruition. Casey needed the love of a good woman and Ellie... Ellie, really, seemed to be made for him. Alike in many ways while different in others. They matched well.

She hadn't been so sure about it at first, when she first started seeing the initial inklings in the time immediately following his mission to protect Ellie in San Francisco. He often looked at her when she wasn't looking at him. She would steal glances his direction when his attention was elsewhere. There were the occasional lingering moments in the kitchen on family dinner night.

And then there was the hostage situation at the hospital, where she'd seen his struggling to maintain his composure when Ellie had been held at gunpoint, when Ellie had refused to allow him to rescue her like he'd wanted. When he had put Chuck into the wall of the surveillance van.

It was then when she'd realized it was inevitable. That they'd started tumbling down a mountain and they'd never be able to stop. While Casey hadn't been keen on admitting it, it didn't matter. It was _true_.

And when the door opened, when she looked at her partner, it was clear Casey was still struggling.

"What happened?"

Casey opened his door wider, letting Sarah in. "I told her about Alex."

"That's what Chuck said..."

"She did not take it well."

"Which means, what, exactly?"

"She asked me to leave."

"And?"

Casey shrugged. "And nothing. I left."

"She's not called?" Off Casey's shaking head, she continued. "I'm sure she just needs time to let it all sink in."

He scoffed, dropping into his recliner. He didn't think so.

"I'm sure she felt like it came out of nowhere."

"What am I supposed to do, Walker? Keep lying to her?"

"It's not lying," Sarah said. "It's just... not being completely forthcoming."

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to," he growled.

She eased to sit on his couch before looking at him-really looking at him.

"What?"

"I'm not saying that I think you need to lie to Ellie. I'm just... you had one date. And, by the sounds of it, it was pretty spectacular, pretty amazing." She was surprised to see the hesitance in his eyes. "You saw me talking to Ellie yesterday. I'm sure you knew we were talking about you. It sounds like you had the perfect romantic evening planned. You're both on this new-love high. I just don't quite understand why you would potentially jeopardize it so quickly." She'd known Casey'd never been particularly confident in _real_ relationships. He had no problem with the cover variety, with the seduction for mission purposes. But, if his heart was really, truly involved, it was a very different story.

"The key word there, Walker, is jeopardize. Now or later. Why not _now_, before there's too much invested?"

She looked at him hard. "Because, you're already _too _invested."

He closed his eyes, inhaling slowly. When he opened them again, he was determined. "I don't want to _lie_ to her anymore than I have to. While national security is my top _working_ priority, I want to be able to talk to her about everything else."

"Sometimes working priorities are personal priorities."

"But, they aren't all the time," he countered. "While I'm not Alexander Coburn anymore, being him..." His mouth twitched slightly. "Being him for twenty years did help make me who I am today. That's what I want Ellie to understand."

"Names aren't _that_ important."

"Says the woman who's had more than she can count," he said gently. "I spend so much time lying to everyone else, I don't want to lie to her. She's... She's different. She deserves better than that."

"Why didn't you tell her about your daughter before? Why'd you wait until now?"

"She was still married to Devon then. I didn't think I'd ever have the possibility for _forever_ with her. But, now that there was even the remotest chance, I had to tell her."

"What happened to that chance, though, with the truth out?"

He shrugged.

"Casey, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you examine every possibility before doing something. That's what makes you the spy that you are. That's how you've cultivated your reputation. It was deliberate. What happens now?"

"That's the thing," he said. "I don't know."

"Casey-"

"It's all up to Ellie now," he said, a little sharper than he'd intended. "There's nothing that I can do. Nothing except wait."

* * *

She sat at the table, not even looking at the menu.

Mandy knew something was _beyond_ wrong. "What is it?" she gently goaded.

Ellie sighed a little, shaking her head.

That answer wasn't nearly good enough. "Is it Devon?"

"What?" Ellie asked, shocked. "No."

"Then..." coaxed Mandy.

"Devon is... Devon is a good guy," Ellie explained. "The divorce was a mutually agreed upon decision. He's off with his new life and I'm off with mine. He... He's barely a blip on my radar anymore." She wanted him to be happy, healthy, and safe, but that was as far as her concerns went.

"Then, is it the new guy? Y'know, it's okay just to have a rebound guy. No one would blame you or think anything negative about you. Everyone in the world does it."

"That is _not_ what John is," Ellie said, affronted.

Mandy's eyes widened as the detail sunk in, as she remembered why that name was important. "Your neighbor John? Your rescuer John? _Your_ John? The one who got shot not that long ago? _That_ John?"

Ellie immediately clammed up.

The waitress breezed over, smiling broadly at them both. "Hi, my name is Alex, and I'll be taking care of you today. Can I start you off with some coffee? Juice?" She watched as her two patrons just stared at each other. "Um...I'll give you ladies a-"

"Yes, please. Coffee," Mandy said, finally looking up at Alex.

"Same," Ellie managed weakly.

Alex scribbled that down on her order pad. "Our slice of the day, ladies, is key lime." When neither seemed to acknowledge that sentence, she headed back towards the counter.

"It is, isn't it? Strong, sexy John."

Reluctantly, Ellie nodded.

"Well, what's the problem? By the look of things, he's perfect. Tall, dark and handsome. Knight in shining armor."

"He is all of that," Ellie admitted. "But he's also secretive." Well, no, it wasn't that so much. He'd always been so much more truthful with her than the others. "Not secretive. He just... He just told me something this morning I never would've imagined and it was... _startling_."

Mandy's smile was soft. "It's just new. You and Devon were together a very long time. It's just... It just takes time to adjust to the fact that you're dating again. Dating is bomb dropping. Dating is learning new things about people. He's not going to know everything about you instinctively and the same goes for you about him. It's not marriage, it's... You have to build back up to that level, where you know where all the bodies are buried, about all the skeletons in the closet, about the size of the emotional baggage collection."

Ellie shook her head slowly. "You don't understand, Mandy, this was a _big_bomb."

"Think back when you first met Devon. There were bombs then, too, weren't there?"

Reluctantly, Ellie nodded.

"And eventually they became distant memories. The smoke fades, the shrapnel pieces are collected and disposed of, right?"

"I guess you're right," Ellie relented.

"Of course I'm right," Mandy grinned as Alex returned with two steaming mugs. "John's a keeper. Trust me."

Alex didn't think much about the overheard part of the conversation. At least, not until after Mandy ordered the peanut butter silk pie and Ellie ordered the pecan.

Pecan pie. Scrubs. Doctor. _John_.

"Ellie?" Alex ventured.

Ellie glanced up, surprised. "I'm sorry, do we know each other?"

"Not yet, but I think we know the same John. Crazy tall. Blue eyes. Scar," she said, pointing at her own right cheek.

Ellie tried to rationalize why John, _super spy_, would talk to someone about her. Wouldn't that be potentially hazardous to all of their health? "Sounds like my John."

"He's just the sweetest guy. Always with a smile and a kind word. Always concerned how you are."

Ellie nodded slowly, but then her eyes fell on the girl's name tag. _Alex_. Her heart pounded in her chest when she looked back up at the girl, at the familiar hue of her eyes, at the similar shape to the ears and nose. She even sort of resembled her _grandmother_. "It's... it's very nice to meet you, Alex," she finally managed.

Alex grinned. "You, too! He speaks so highly of you."

* * *

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next installment:

Morgan paused before reaching down and snagging the ink pen from its pocket in his bag. He crossed towards the arm chair, easing down into it. He propped his feet up on the coffee table, easing his fist, closed around the pen, under his chin. He clicked the pen a time or two. "Would you like my semi-professional opinion?"

Chuck let out a slow sigh. "Do I get a choice in the matter?"

"Not really," Morgan admitted.

The lankier geek eased back onto the couch.

"Change is painful. But the only thing constant is change... Therefore, pain is constant."

"That's kinda deep for a Sunday afternoon," Chuck admitted.


	4. Chapter 4

For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Dedicated to GoddessofBirth, with wishes for brighter skies ahead.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Casey decides to tell Ellie that he has a daughter, though Chuck tries to talk him out of it. Ellie doesn't take the news particularly well, and Mandy and Scott notice it. Mandy takes Ellie out for pie to figure out what's going on, and Ellie lets it slip that she's been dating Casey. Sarah talks to Casey about his reasoning for telling Ellie. Alex puts two and two together, and figures out that Ellie is the one Casey was telling her about.

* * *

Pie hadn't done the trick quite like Mandy had hoped. She shrugged at Scott as she and Ellie returned to Westside after their brief break.

Ellie numbly crossed to the station, picking up a chart. She struggled to focus on it, caught by the fact that Casey would've talked to his _daughter_ about her. But, what kind of a daughter called her father by his first name?

She replayed the events back in her head several times, but each time she knew exactly what was missing. Alex never referred to Casey as her father. He was a patron, a regular, a good guy, a friend. But he was never, ever, not even once, her father.

The only thing she could think was that Alex didn't know. And what kind of a man would tell his girlfriend (was that was she was to him?) about his daughter but he wouldn't tell his actual daughter who he was.

She rubbed at her forehead, feeling a terrible headache coming on.

* * *

Chuck jumped to his feet when he heard the door open. "Sarah, I-" He stopped dead, however, when he saw Morgan standing there.

"Hey, buddy," Morgan said with a smile.

"H-hey," Chuck managed, hoping he didn't sound as deflated as he felt. Clearly, though, seeing the look on his best friend's face, he'd failed pretty miserably in that endeavor.

"What's up?" Morgan asked, closing the door behind him and easing his messenger bag from across his chest, leaning it against the wall.

"Just... nothing..."

Morgan paused before reaching down and snagging the ink pen from its pocket in his bag. He crossed towards the arm chair, easing down into it. He propped his feet up on the coffee table, easing his fist, closed around the pen, under his chin. He clicked the pen a time or two. "Would you like my semi-professional opinion?"

Chuck let out a slow sigh. "Do I get a choice in the matter?"

"Not really," Morgan admitted.

The lankier geek eased back onto the couch.

"Change is painful. But the only thing constant is change... Therefore, pain is constant."

"That's kinda deep for a Sunday afternoon," Chuck admitted.

Morgan allowed a brief grin to peek out from his bearded face. "I know, right?" He quickly straightened back up, however, when he cleared his throat. "The status quo is over. The balance? Broken. You feel that your life is in flux."

"That's... Actually, yeah, that's a pretty good summation."

"You know how much, how _deeply_, I care about Ellie."

"Of course."

"You know my feelings on the Captain, how they evolved from barely tolerating him to begrudging acceptance to eventual peace, right?"

"Sure..."

"John Casey is... Well, he's an enigma."

Chuck wasn't quite sure where Morgan was going with this.

"At first, I thought he was just an overgrown school bully, right? The kind of guy who used to suspend us upside down, shake us for lunch money, and drop us, unceremoniously, on the linoleum, amid strewn about homework papers and library books... but, then I realized he wasn't spiteful to be mean. Oh, no. He was spiteful because that's his job. He's like... America's pitbull."

Chuck actually cracked a half-grin at that.

"And then, I thought he was this, like, emotionally constipated panda. Quiet, brooding, nearly extinct, and unable to feel a real emotion if it came up and whacked him across the face."

Chuck's eyebrows slowly drifted up his forehead.

"But, he's not really that either. He has feelings. He just experiences things differently than we do."

"If you're going to defend Casey for his relationship, or whatever it is, with Ellie... don't you want to wait and hear the whole story first?"

"The whole story? I thought we were still in the prologue portion..."

Chuck shook his head. "Pretty sure he broke her heart."

Morgan's expression darkened as he got to his feet. "I'll kill him," he said, tossing the clicking pen on the table. "What'd he do?"

"He had a daughter twenty years ago and decided to tell Ellie about it."

"Whoa, wait... Our big guy is a papa bear?"

Chuck nodded.

"Are you sure that revelation broke Ellie's heart?"

"How could it _not_?"

"If there's one thing Ellie's always been about, Chuck, it's family."

Chuck slowly sat up.

* * *

Sarah pointed at the back door to the club. "What about the delivery entrance?"

"We put the van there, it won't look suspicious, but look at all the crap we're going to have to go through to take them out that way," he said. "The kitchen is practically a maze of galleys. One wrong turn, one loose riot handcuff, we've got to watch out for flying alcohol bottles or a scorching hot frying pan. Our best bet is still out front. Instead of the bar having to deal with questions about unruly patrons being hustled out the back, it'll look like we're just bouncing them out front, like any other normal drunken asshole causing a scene."

Sarah glanced up at him. There was one question she hadn't asked at the briefings with Chuck, one question she wanted to ask but was almost afraid to, even now, when it was just the two of them, looking at the schematics on his coffee table.

"What?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"With what?"

"The last time you were a bartender, you were shot."

He slowly looked up at her. "Wasn't the first time I'd taken a bullet. Wasn't even the first time I'd taken a bullet on this assignment." He'll always think of Christmas a little differently.

"Just, I don't think anyone would fault you for sitting in the surveillance-"

"Finish that sentence, Walker, and _we_ are going to have issues," he said, his voice low and deadly, his lips curled in a menacing snarl.

Before Sarah could respond, there was a knock at Casey's door.

"John?"

"It's Ellie," Casey said.

Sarah realized it was like a light switch had been flipped, the difference between his demeanor as soon as he'd heard the doctor's voice. "I'll wrap this up," she said, already working on rolling the schematics. "Go answer your door."

Casey crossed towards the door, opening it. "Ellie..."

She looked up at him, quiet for a moment. "I..."

"Hi," he managed.

She swallowed hard. "Can I come in?"

Casey glanced back at his living room, fully expecting to see Sarah still at the couch, but she was gone, as was the mission prep documents. He opened his door wider.

She eased in, nervously fidgeting with her watch.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

"She works at the Pie Shack, over near the hospital."

Casey looked momentarily alarmed, but he nodded.

"But, she doesn't know who you are, who you _really_ are. She kept calling you John."

"She doesn't know I'm her father."

"A girl-a _woman-_should know her father."

"If it were that simple, Ellie, but it isn't."

"It _is_ that simple, though, John. All you have to do, all you need to do is open your mouth and tell her. Speaking as a daughter who didn't have a father who was around much... it doesn't matter when you show up, just that you _do_ show up."

"Why do you think I go to the Pie Shack, why do you think I talk to her?"

"That doesn't count. Not until she knows who you are _to her_."

"It's not that easy," he insisted.

"You're making it hard. There's no need, no reason for that. Do you or do you not want your daughter in your life?"

"I do, but-"

"I just... I don't understand, John, do you honestly think it'll get easier? The longer it takes, do you honestly think it'll become somehow _easier_ to tell her the truth then? After you've continued to establish this friendship, after you've lied to her forever..."

"I'm trying to protect her."

"Knowledge, John. That's the only way any of us are going to survive in this world. You're intentionally keeping her from knowing something. You're intentionally handicapping her ability to protect herself. I... Look back at me, at us, at where we started from. If you hadn't been there with me in San Francisco..." She shuddered to think about the alternative to what had occurred. "Do you really want to be responsible for that?"

Casey closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to think about what the Ring might've done to Ellie had he not been there. Tate was a mercenary, a killer, a relentless son of a bitch. And it had been bad enough, when his former commanding officer had used Kathleen against him.

Ellie wanted to reach out to him, but she didn't. She found she couldn't. She was still mad at him, annoyed with his unwillingness to tell Alex the truth. Silently, she turned and slipped out of his apartment.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw her, crossing the courtyard and disappearing through her door.

* * *

"Isn't this intriguing," commented Lester as he lowered his binoculars.

"What?" Jeff asked.

"Blondie, Chuck's Blondie, just escaped out the second story window of Casey's apartment and is sneaking her way across to Chuck's place."

"So?"

"So, she must've been creeping up the stairs about the time the good doctor knocked on Casey's door. We have our very own _drama_ going on. It's like one of those things on a soap opera, a love parallelogram." Lester paused. "Trapezoid?"

"I'm fond of the octagons myself," Jeff said with a lazy, lecherous grin that made his companion visibly shudder.

"Point being," Lester said, pushing through it, "I think I have an idea."

"Oh?" Jeff inquired.

"We're going to need to make a supply run."

"World Foods?" Jeff asked, starting his Loretta.

"Costco," Lester said with determination.

* * *

When Monday dawned, Casey hadn't slept well. Relationships weren't supposed to be this hard, were they? He was losing more sleep this way than he ever had as a Marine on deployment, as a spy on a mission, he was pretty sure. Plus, it was worse torture than he'd ever been through before. Mostly because he knew that his body could take it, whatever a terrorist decided to try to throw at him. He could easily withstand that kind of pain. But his heart was the one muscle that didn't have a wall around it, not anymore. Not since Ellie had disassembled it, destroyed it with kindness, with light.

He grumbled, rolling out of bed.

He had an early Buy More shift followed by the Club Azure meeting that night. At least there was a little downtime in between the two.

After his shower, he got dressed. After fixing a pot of coffee, he poured himself a mug, but he didn't touch it. He couldn't seem to stomach it. Crossing towards his window, he eased one of the blinds up slightly to look out at Ellie's across the courtyard.

He could tell the lights were on, but nothing else.

He knew she was still on early shifts for a while at the ER.

Dropping the slat, he eased back, dropping onto his recliner. He set his coffee on the table before leaning back and staring at the ceiling.

His life wasn't supposed to be this way. He wasn't sure when it was that it had gotten away from him, but, very clearly, he had deviated from the plan somewhere.

What would've happened, had he not accepted the black ops position? He would've served his time, gone home, and found some moderately distasteful job, something a lot like the Buy More, he guessed. He would've had Kathleen and he would've known Alex. But, would he have been happy? Would she have been strong enough to put up with him, a disgraced Marine, unable to cut it, unable to hack it as special forces?

There was no guaranteeing that choosing differently _then _would've led to happily ever after.

He wanted to do right by Ellie, by Alex. He just wasn't sure about telling Alex who he was, who he _really_ was. The more he ran that simulation through his head, the more results he got much the same as telling Ellie.

He wondered if Ellie had considered that she and Alex might be different. While Ellie missed her father, while Ellie wanted her father around, Alex seemed to be okay with the fact that she didn't have one. She wasn't pining over something she missed.

He could almost hear Ellie's voice in his head, though: _How can she miss what she's never __known?_

Coffee forgotten, he got to his feet.

The important task of the day was carrying out the mission that night. And that meant having no distractions. Even if he wanted to talk to Alex on his break between retail and espionage, even if he wanted to talk to Ellie that morning, it would be better for him, for his calm center, to try to get through the day, to handle everything else later.

He grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. He had a grill or two to sell.

* * *

Sarah breezed into the Buy More, a cup of frozen yogurt in her hands. Her blue eyes quickly checked out the place. Casey was talking with an elderly gentleman. Morgan was chatting up a new green shirt, another tall, gangly kid. And the Nerd Herd desk was suspiciously empty.

She crossed wordlessly to Chuck's roommate. Technically, that made him her roommate, too. She smiled politely at Morgan.

"Excuse me," he told the newbie. "One second." He met Sarah near the Nerd Herd desk. "Hey, Sarah."

"You seen Chuck?"

"Yeah, he's on break," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the Employees Only door.

Sarah started to head that direction.

Morgan moved quickly in front of her. "I'm sorry, company policy. No one allowed through those doors except personnel."

"It'll only take a second."

"It only takes a second to have a full-fledged riot on my hands. If I let you back there, then when... okay, really _if_ Lester or Jeff or Skip or someone were to get a girlfriend, then they would want the same privileges."

"That _if_ sounds pretty speculative," said Sarah.

"Well, yes, mostly, _but_, as assistant manager, it's my job to keep the peace, to enforce the policies... even when I don't agree with them 'cause I'd totally let you back there."

Sarah fixed him with her deadly blue gaze.

"Maybe just this once it would be all right if I guided you back there. But, please don't touch anything!" Morgan made a note to talk to Chuck at some point about his girlfriend's _interrogation_ and _torture_ techniques.

The break room was a hotbed of excitement. _Everyone_ was there, even Big Mike.

The rotund manager was peering over the charts on one of the tables while Lester and Jeff looked on hungrily.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Morgan asked Chuck.

Chuck glanced up from his comic book. "An illegal, back-room gambling thing."

"What are they betting on?" Sarah asked.

"Among other things? My ability to hold my lunch in."

Sarah looked at the treat in her hands. "This may not help, then."

"You brought that for me?" Chuck asked with a grin.

"New flavor."

Chuck looked at her, concerned.

"Fig and Ginger."

"Fig and Ginger," Morgan said. "Put that together and you'd get... finge... Oh, ew. Finger-flavored? Really, Sarah?"

Reluctantly, Chuck accepted the cup, swirling the spoon around in it for a moment. "Maybe that wouldn't be best, given the pool."

"How's it going, by the way?" Morgan asked, nodding towards the betting action.

"Well, I think the magic number seems to be three," Chuck said. "Three months for Casey and Ellie, three days for me..."

Skip, on his way back to the sales floor, clapped Morgan on the shoulder, shooting him an exaggerated wink.

"What on Earth was that about?" Morgan asked, mildly weirded out.

"Oh, the third topic in the pool. Ellie's next great love. "Smart money seems to be back on Devon. Skip is second. You, buddy, are pulling up the rear. You're even trailing the geniuses behind this little endeavor."

Morgan lamented. "Man!"

Sarah moved forward, scoping out the poster boards.

"Well, _hello_, Blondie," Lester said, just as cordially, as sweetly as he could. "Would you care to lay some money down? A ten-spot gets you one in each of our three categories."

Sarah eased a ten dollar bill from her pocket.

Jeff quickly snatched the money from her hands. "Milady," he said, sweeping his arm across the boards.

Sarah picked up the Sharpie, glancing at the options available. She didn't have to ponder long, before scribbling her name down in the boxes on the lower right-hand corners of the first two boards.

"You're... you're actually picking _forever_?" Lester asked, unable to keep from laughing.

She nodded, recapping the pen.

"Well, your entry fee also lets you pick one on the final board here," Lester said, drumming his fingers on the "Who's Next" display.

Sarah shook her head. "No need. Won't happen."

"You seem awfully... _confident_," Lester said, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, unsure as to what he was getting at. And he was definitely trying to get at something. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Come now, let's not be coy," Lester said, an evil, Grinch-like smile unfolding on his lips. "I think we all know _exactly_ why you moved into the Echo Park apartments."

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Lester scoffed. "Puh-_leese._ You've got your geek boy eating out of the palm of your hand and your _fro-yo _cup, but then you've also got the neighbor. Tall, dark and scary..."

She glanced between them, noting that Jeff was nodding emphatically.

"We _saw_ you," Jeff whispered.

Sarah made a note to run back the security footage of the apartment exterior and step-up the patrols.

"You're the reason we started this up," Jeff explained. "Ask any guy, _any _guy, and they'll tell you. Blonde trumps brunette," he said with a shrug.

Sarah kicked herself for even prolonging the conversation. She just offered a pert nod before retreating back to Chuck.

"What was that all about?"

Sarah snatched the cup back from him. While she could tell he hadn't eaten any of it, she wasn't about to lose. "Nothing."

Chuck huffed as she left. While he knew he'd thrown that word around a lot to her, it was... strange... to be getting it back.

* * *

Ellie looked at the silk halter-top cocktail dress hanging on the back of her open locker door. It was a gorgeous, inky dark blue color with beading detail at the waist. She'd bought it a while ago and had never gotten an opportunity to wear it anywhere. It seemed like the best time, out with the girls for a night. She'd initially bought it thinking it'd be to some fancy dinner with Devon.

That wasn't ever going to happen again.

And she might've considered saving it for some meal with Casey, but she wasn't sure what she felt about all of his revelations of late.

She'd done her best to stop thinking about it. She'd wasted most of her Sunday lost in thought and it was threatening to take over her entire Monday. Wasn't the point of girl's night to ignore the rest of the world, to cut loose, to have fun?

Pondering about a boyfriend's previously unknown daughter didn't sound like her ideal night.

Tugging at her scrubs, she tossed them in the nearby hamper before slipping into the dress. It hugged all the right curves, showed off just enough skin to be intriguing. She ran her fingers through her dark tresses. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Maybe a little touch-up on her makeup, a spritz or two of perfume and, of course, her impossibly high heels and she'd be good to go.

_Good to go_. Wasn't that a Marine thing?

She couldn't go two seconds without thinking about him.

Closing her eyes, she thought about calling him. But, she wasn't sure if he had a mission, if he was at the Buy More...

The very last thing she wanted to do was unknowingly interrupt him in a mission.

* * *

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next installment:

"He's not supposed to be here for another half hour," Chuck radioed lazily. "I don't see why we have to be here so early. I mean... I get the idea of being prepared, but this is kind of excessive, isn't it?"

"Gives us a real chance to see what the potential dangers are," Sarah responded. She, too, was in the uniform of the club, except instead of the slacks, she had a short black skirt. She breezed about the expansive dining room with a small tray, taking orders and bringing drinks. "Like Casey's entourage."

Chuck sat up a little straighter.

Sarah smiled. "At your seven."

Chuck's brown eyes easily found the three women, dressed to the nines, huddling around a shared table, each pointing, giggling, and holding electric blue drinks.

If Casey _ever_ saw a bottle of Hypnotiq again, it would be too soon.


	5. Chapter 5

For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Morgan tries to help Chuck sort through his emotions about Ellie's moving on from Awesome. Sarah tries to keep Casey distracted, working out last-minute details with the mission prep right before Ellie drops by for an unannounced visit, to tell Casey that he needs to tell his daughter who he is. The next day at the Buy More, Sarah drops money in the office pool as to how long she expects Casey and Ellie's relationship to last and learns that Jeff and Lester are spying on the apartment complex. Ellie gets ready for a Girls' Night Out.

* * *

Club Azure was a swanky place, more upscale than the last nightclub hot spot they'd had a mission in. It was very _unlike_ the dive where he'd been shot. Casey unconsciously rubbed at his chest as he stood behind the bar, his blue eyes cutting a laser-like path from one side of the club to the other. He wasn't exactly fond of the uniform for the club either, but it wasn't _too _bad. Black slacks, crisp white oxford, _azure_ blue vest. "Still clear."

"He's not supposed to be here for another half hour," Chuck radioed lazily. "I don't see why we have to be here so early. I mean... I get the idea of being prepared, but this is kind of excessive, isn't it?"

"Gives us a real chance to see what the potential dangers are," Sarah responded. She, too, was in the uniform of the club, except instead of the slacks, she had a short black skirt. She breezed about the expansive dining room with a small tray, taking orders and bringing drinks. "Like Casey's entourage."

Chuck sat up a little straighter.

Sarah smiled. "At your seven."

Chuck's brown eyes easily found the three women, dressed to the nines, huddling around a shared table, each pointing, giggling, and holding electric blue drinks.

If Casey _ever_ saw a bottle of Hypnotiq again, it would be too soon.

Chuck managed a slight chuckle. "Looks like Ellie's gonna have... Uh..." He spun around, turning his back towards Casey's fan club. "We have a problem. A _major_ problem!"

"What is it?" Sarah radioed. She was halfway back to the bar, to snag another round of martinis from Casey.

"Ellie-way at oor-day." Chuck had to pause. That didn't turn out quite as nicely in pig latin as he'd hoped. "My _sister_. My sister just walked in the door!"

Casey turned immediately towards the entrance and watched, his blood running cold, as Ellie joined his admirers with hugs and smiles. He recognized, too, the other new-comer as the round-faced smiling nurse from before.

"What do we do? Thoughts? Suggestions?" Chuck asked.

"You, take a breath. Walker, I need a jacket."

"Wh-what?" Chuck asked, his mind reeling.

She knew exactly where he was going, though. "On it," she said, snagging the drinks from the bar and heading out. She dropped them off at the appropriate table, then stole a suit coat from a slightly drunken patron paying little attention to the waitress or his belongings. "Relax," she murmured at Chuck before heading back to the bar.

Chuck nervously watched her, realizing Casey was gone. For a moment, he had his own flashback to that other club, to that bone-chilling moment when he couldn't find Casey right before the gunshot fired.

But, Sarah eased into the kitchen, and he caught sight, however briefly, of Casey's arm, taking the proffered jacket.

"Is that gonna fit?" Chuck asked.

* * *

Ellie smiled but inwardly winced at the chorus of greetings coming from her three co-workers. There was Donna, from ER admitting, Wendy, from radiology, and Bridget, another nurse.

"You have _got_ to see the hottie pouring drinks," Bridget said. "Talk about a _tall_ drink of water!"

"We're trying to get the courage up to ask him for his number. We could all trade days. I'm sure he wouldn't mind!" added Wendy.

Ellie just shook her head. "I'll pass."

"Ellie, really, you should see him first," Donna said, glancing back at the bar. "He's, um..." She frowned. "Where'd he go?"

"Maybe he's on break," Wendy said, rocking up on her toes to try to see the bar area better.

Maybe, Ellie realized, she could stay for a drink and then bow out early. She shifted slightly in her heels. It had been a long day. And she still wasn't entirely sure how she felt about Casey and his inability to tell his daughter who he was.

The more she thought about it, the more a nice, long hot bath sounded appealing. But, they'd just gotten there. Surely, they wouldn't excuse her that early.

"I'll go see if he's hiding up there!" Wendy decided. "Ladies, drinks?"

"Whatever you have looks interesting," Ellie said, noting well that all three ladies had the same neon drink.

"I always have to see the menu. I'll come with!" Mandy said, joining Wendy in her trek to the bar.

"It's good to see you out, Ellie," Donna said softly.

Ellie smiled a little.

Bridget's jaw dropped slightly. "Talk about a tall drink of water..." she said again.

Ellie narrowed her eyes, confused, but not for long. It all vanished when she heard _his_ voice.

"Ellie."

She turned, her eyes wide. "John?"

He smiled slightly, inclining his head ever so slightly. "May I talk to you for a moment?"

She noted that his jacket seemed a little tight. The one he'd worn Friday night had fit perfectly. It seemed odd, out of place, but that wasn't quite as strange as the glasses. She was certain she'd never seen him wear any before, and the retro-looking chunky frames, while nice, made her wonder what was going on. "Um... Excuse me," she managed to say before Casey eased an arm around her and led her out of earshot.

As they walked away, however, they could clearly hear both Donna and Bridget begin hushed, excited whispers.

"What are you doing here?" Ellie asked.

"Work," he said simply, pushing the frames further up his nose only to have them fall down again. The prescription was hurting his eyes, but he'd found them in the interior pocket of the jacket and he knew he'd need a little something extra just for a moment, to make sure that her companions didn't realize she was dating some lowly drink mixer. "I need you and your friends to leave," he said, his eyes again sweeping the dining room.

She slowly looked up at him. "Are we in danger?"

He checked his watch. "Not for the next ten minutes, but I really need you to leave now."

"What am I supposed to tell them?" she asked. "Now that they've seen you... and Mandy _remembers_ you." She gasped. "You're the bartender, aren't you?"

"Please, Ellie, just... take your friends to this place called Dusk. It's an older club, but Raoul, he owes me a favor. Tell him I sent you; he'll take care of you."

"_Raoul_?" she repeated.

"There isn't much time, Doc," he said urgently.

"I... All right," she said distractedly. She started to turn from him, but he caught her hand. "Wh...?"

He stole a quick, chaste kiss.

She looked up at him, startled.

"You can still be mad at me. Doesn't change how I feel about you." And, a little voice in the back of his head, the one that gave sound to his instincts, the one that had kept him alive all these years, didn't want her to go without knowing that.

Just in case.

She wanted to tell him she wasn't exactly mad, she was just disappointed. Somewhat upset. Annoyed. Annoyed was a good word. As she struggled to get her mouth to work, she watched as a change came over Casey.

She'd seen it before, when he'd gone from being regular guy Casey to Marine Casey. To spy Casey.

He was looking over the tops of his glasses and lifted his watch to his lips. "Incoming."

Ellie spun around. She wasn't sure what it was he'd seen, but suddenly the picture became clearer. She saw Sarah, clearing a table. She saw Chuck, her brother Chuck, at another table, seemingly impatiently checking the time on his watch.

"Go," Casey murmured to her before crossing to an empty table.

* * *

Marcus Finch breezed into the club like he owned the joint. He didn't pay any mind at all to the folks there. He was only there for one reason, and one reason only. And that was to make a thrilling business transaction. He was so close to the money, he was certain he could _taste_ it. He wore his favorite suit, the navy pinstripe Armani, his hair slicked back. "Mr. Billings!" he said excitedly as he crossed to Chuck.

Chuck slowly got to his feet, nodding slightly. "Mr. Finch."

"Please, please. Marcus! We're going to be friends, you and I, I can tell."

"Marcus," Chuck amended with a slight incline of his head.

"So, tell me..." He drifted off, clearly waiting for the go-ahead for the first-name privilege to be returned.

Chuck, still reeling from the fact that his sister was mere feet from them, struggled to remember his cover's name. Sarah's voice was soft in his ear, reminding him. "Daniel. Danny. Y'know. Danny's fine. Danny's great, Marcus."

The next voice he heard was Casey's, reminding him yet again to stay: "Steady."

Finch clapped Chuck on the shoulder. "So, tell me, Danny, are you ready for this evening's festivities?"

"Festivities? I thought we were having an exchange. I give you what you want, you give me what I want... we both call the night a win."

"Well, that was the plan," he said with a nod. "But, y'know, I had another offer, one that made me reconsider ours. Not get rid of, just _reconsider_." He turned, waving at the older Korean gentleman standing on the other side of Ellie.

Ellie who was talking to her friends, who was looking at Casey.

Casey had taken up residence at a table between Chuck and Ellie, to act as kind of a buffer, Chuck was sure.

As he looked back at the additional player, however, and his eyes unfocused. Among the disjointed images, he very clearly saw things he wished he hadn't, including diagrams for nuclear weapons depots.

"Oh, boy," Chuck muttered under his breath.

* * *

Ellie tried to figure out what on earth she was going to say to convince the ladies that it was time to leave. They'd just gotten there. And she'd just had a brief interlude with her new boyfriend in front of them.

"Who is _he_?" Bridget asked, nodding at Casey.

But, did one date a boyfriend make? "He, um..."

"Ellie, you're blushing!" Donna commented.

She brushed her hair back from her face. "It's not... It's not what you think," she said. "We, um..."

Wendy and Mandy returned bearing a blue drink in each hand. "Have you seen these things? They could totally light up the night," Mandy said with a grin.

Wendy, however, picked up on the fact that there was something amiss. "Ladies? What happened?"

Bridget casually nodded towards Casey.

Mandy's eyes grew large. "Dr. B! You and your fella doing better, then? You guys got everything worked out?"

"There were issues with Mr. Gorgeous over there? Bridget asked.

"It's... It's complicated. And I promise I'll clear up the confusion later, but we should probably go."

"But, you just got here," Donna said. "And your hottie over there just got here..."

"He's here on business."

Mandy frowned.

"Business? In a night club?" Wendy asked, concerned.

"Chuck's meeting with possible funders right now," she lied, nodding at the table with her brother. "I just didn't realize that they were doing that _here _tonight."

All four ladies turned to see and Ellie wished they all could melt into the floor.

That was _not _stealth-like. Casey would _not _be happy.

"Chuck's breaking away from the Buy More?" Donna asked, knowing well that the employment issue had long been a thorn in Ellie's big sisterly side.

"He's working on it, some new computer thing, with John... and I really don't want to interrupt or... anything. We should go. John knows this great place that's not too far, that they'll take care of us there," Ellie said, hopeful that they would buy the lie.

The lies, she realized, that everyone around her had perpetuated _to _her. It was different, now that she was the one executing them. She realized the weight of the consuming, dark guilt, how it tugged at her soul. No wonder she and Devon had drifted apart. How could anyone hold tight to a relationship, a marriage built on a foundation of that kind of shadiness?

She glanced at Casey. She didn't want Alex to hate him someday. She understood why, maybe, he didn't want that someday to be that day, but that someday would happen. And it was easier to rip a bandage off in one fell swoop instead of inching it off, slowly, bit by bit. If she could only get him to see that.

* * *

"So glad you could make it," Finch said, bowing graciously at the waist.

Chuck realized that guy was one smooth operator.

"Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Finch asked, clapping his hands together. "We're going to start the bidding at five hundred thousand. A paltry fee for you guys, I know, but we can't out-bid the Afghani-warlord I've got here on my phone," he said, pulling his iPhone from his pocket. "Great guy. Couldn't make it. No-fly lists, I mean, _really_?"

Chuck shook his head. "This wasn't the deal we brokered on Saturday."

Finch shrugged. "That was then. This is now. Business is business. Nothing personal," he assured him with that car-salesman smile.

Chuck wanted to say that it most certainly _was _personal to him, what with his sister standing mere feet from him, but he couldn't. Chuck wanted to say that it was personal to the physicist that Finch seemed hell-bent on auctioning off like some kind of chipped antique plate, but he didn't.

All he could do was nod.

* * *

Sarah slowly removed the dishes from an abandoned table. With the move of a long-practicing con artist, she hit the button on her watch, changing her comms to only be picked up by Casey. "Contingencies?"

Casey glanced at Sarah, catching the subtle movement of her ring finger to her thumb, indicating that she'd adjusted her frequency. He did the same. Not that they were cutting Chuck out of the loop, but they needed time to process before they involved the Intersect. "I never figured we'd have an auction," Casey said, mentally kicking himself for ignoring that remote possibility.

"Nobody could've predicted this. Who's the guy?"

Casey eased into a seat. "You don't recognize Yi?"

Sarah glanced again at Chuck's table, angling for a slightly better look at one of the potential buyers. "How certain are you?"

"Hundred percent. Pays to keep up on the world's scumbags," Casey said. "Doesn't take an Intersect to memorize a top-ten list."

"What do we do?"

Casey offered a slight shrug. "Move to Plan B."

"Which is?"

"You'll know when I do," he said grimly.

* * *

Mandy finally nodded. "We should go."

"But..." began Wendy.

"Doesn't mean we can't come back here on the next girl's night out," Mandy said. "But I think we should go and I think Ellie should stay."

Ellie glanced up, alarmed. "Me?"

"Business can't last forever," Mandy reasoned.

"Well, no, but-"

"Besides," she said, lowering her voice, "then you and he can work through what we talked about at the Pie Shack yesterday."

Ellie looked from Mandy to the rest of the women, who seemed to be gathering their things, adjusting their purses. "I... okay. Thanks, ladies." She bid her work friends goodbye, accepting a hug from each in turn. As she gave Mandy a squeeze, she whispered to her what Casey had told her, about Raoul.

Mandy grinned and headed out into the cooling night with the rest of the girls.

Standing at the table by herself, she felt a huge wave of relief crash over her, until she saw Casey's face.

* * *

Yi's English was passable but heavily accented. "There will be no bidding," he said, reaching his spindly fingers towards Finch's phone.

"What are you talking about?" Finch asked, his good-nature smile fading fast.

"In exchange for the doctor, you get to live, Mr. Finch," Yi said simply, snatching the phone from the younger man's hands.

"Now, hold on a second..." Finch said, frantically looking at Chuck.

"Not to be crass, old-timer, but you and what army?" Chuck asked, chuckling. It was all bravado, and he hoped he didn't have to hold it for long. He reached his hand out, to grab the phone back.

Yi dropped it into a nearly full beer at the table next to theirs.

Finch audibly whimpered.

"Okay, fine, so it's just you and me," Chuck said. "We could play rock, paper, scissors for it. Or, or... Odds and evens. I'm pretty partial to that one. Used to play it all the time with my sister," he said, gently accenting the last word as he glanced past Yi to try to get Casey's attention.

Because Chuck could clearly see that Ellie was still at the club. And Casey, since sitting at the table, hadn't looked back at her at all.

He eased momentarily when he saw Casey swivel. He then tried desperately not to shudder noticeably when the feed came back on with his earpiece.

"Get Yi to clear the room," Casey said before immediately switching the feed off again.

Chuck swallowed hard. "Okay, okay, so those games may be a little juvenile for, y'know, what we're playing for. So, how 'bout this instead? How 'bout we clear the room, huh? There's a whole lot of people standing around here, and they're really starting to cramp my style," he said, tugging at his tie. "There's no need to involve them in any of this, this... dealings... that we're about to be... doing."

Sometimes, even Chuck wished his brain would catch up and surpass his tongue at the speaking part of the job.

Yi actually smiled and, for one brief second, Chuck did, too.

"Collateral damage is what I'm seeking," Yi said simply.

Chuck hoped he didn't blanch.

"C'mon, now, Mr. Yi, this is not..." It was like Finch could see his dollars going up in smoke. "This is_ not_ how this negotiation was supposed to go."

Yi briefly tilted his head to one side, then lifted his head again. "This night is just getting started."

* * *

Ellie slowly sipped her drink, trying to count to a thousand. She figured that would be plenty of time for the girls to get to their cars and start to drive off. Then she would leave, get in her car, go home, and pray that whatever it was that was going on at the club would end with the good guys winning.

She watched as Sarah flitted around the club, as she delivered drinks and took them back to the bar.

She watched as Chuck talked with those men. It worried her because he'd seem so confident one moment and like her scared little brother the next.

In those moments, she wished he was twelve again and that look on his face was caused by Joey Stillman, who used to steal his lunches, until Chuck helped her whip up a batch laxative cookies. Because brownies, he'd told her, were entirely too cliché.

She watched as Casey spoke quietly into his watch, as he looked so serious, so determined.

She sat up straighter when she felt something cold on the exposed skin of her back. She closed her eyes, struggling to think of something nicer, something calming. Something like peanut butter cookies.

* * *

Sarah stopped in mid step when she glanced up, seeing the man standing directly behind Ellie. "Casey..."

"Yeah?" he said, distracted. He was trying to listen to Chuck and Yi's conversation.

"At your nine."

Slowly, Casey looked over. It took every ounce of willpower he had from running across the room and tackling the man to the ground.

Ellie's eyes were closed, she was inhaling slowly, deeply.

He was somewhat proud, for only a fraction of a second, as she was so much better at preventing those Bartowski-family freakouts these days.

Casey switched his radio again so that he could talk to Chuck. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done, and he'd done hundreds of things that he'd thought had taken that title before, but not now. Now, it needed to be said. "Stay cool, Bartowski. Cold as ice."

* * *

Chuck wondered what Casey meant by that. He thought he was being pretty cool as it was. Maybe not icy, but definitely hovering right above freezing. Plus, the Colonel's voice had been oddly strained, like something was wrong.

He was distracted by Casey's odd comment and so he only half-way heard Yi say something that remotely sounded like: "Bring her."

Chuck's blood reached Absolute Zero when he saw his sister marching slowly towards their table. As he looked back at Yi, he flashed again, seeing powerful knees and elbows. His emotional state was in such an upheaval at seeing the man with one hand on his sister's shoulder, the other holding _something_ up to her back, that his muscles were twitching to perform a couple Muay Thai moves on the guy responsible. Elderly guy or not, Chuck really didn't care.

Nobody did that to his sister, not when he was around.

* * *

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next installment:

Ellie, nearly falling on her wobbly high-heels, watched as Chuck performed moves she'd only seen in those kung-fu movies she'd reluctantly sat through with Devon and his frat brothers back at UCLA. She knew, for a certain, definite fact, that the closest her brother had _ever_ gotten to martial arts had been watching Karate Kid repeatedly as a child.

The things he was doing would've required years of practice. He was performing them like they were nothing, like he'd been doing this his whole life...

Which he _had not_ been doing.

Chuck's kicks and punches and grappling throws were amazing and scary to watch.


	6. Chapter 6

For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know, or maybe you just forgot: It's Girl's Night Out at Club Azure, where Team Bartowski is trying to rescue a US nuclear physicist. The evening is complicated by Finch including other potential buyers, including Mr. Yi, one of terrorism's most-wanted, not to mention Ellie's gal pals from the hospital in for drinks. While Ellie gets the rest of her pals to go, she's left behind to be used for leverage in the negotiations.

* * *

Yi seemed so smug as Ellie was led to their table. "She means something to you?"

Finch looked back and forth between Chuck and Yi, completely confused by the new turn of events.

"Beautiful girl," he said as Ellie was nudged to stand with them.

Chuck didn't appreciate her new "friend" standing so close behind her, or of Yi reaching out to touch her hair. "There's no need for this," he sneered, his voice harsher than it had been all night. "You want the physicist? Fine. Take him."

Ellie realized Chuck was about to throw away whatever his mission had been, for her. While she'd lost a lot because of the spy life, she realized that her safety was not more important than that of the nation, the safety that Chuck, Sarah, and Casey all defended so hard. "Whatever it is, I'm not worth it."

Chuck glanced down quickly. The reaction in his earpiece had been so visceral, so gut-wrenching, so loud. He regretted ever doubting the big guy's love for his sister.

* * *

The word was ripped from his lips before he ever had a chance to try to stop it, before he had a chance to try to filter it, before he had a chance to do more than just react.

It sounded like anguish, like heart-shattering pain. It sounded like it came from someone else, from somewhere else.

"_Bullshit_."

Hearing her say those words, something had come over him, something he couldn't control. And he'd built his life around control. It was a new place for him, a scary place, one he couldn't afford to stay in long.

* * *

Sarah wasn't sure which was more interesting, the fact that Chuck was channeling Casey with the facial expressions or the _emotional_ outburst Casey'd had to Ellie's nearly whispered statement.

What she was sure of, though, was that Yi brought more than just one extra to the party.

"One at the bar, four at the door, two at tables... We're quickly getting surrounded," Sarah radioed, mentally trying to figure out who could take out what, working on choreographing the fight.

"Yi has exterior muscle for a reason," Casey said, his voice still tense but he sounded somewhat calmer. "We focus on them, but anybody gets a clear shot at Yi, take it. It won't take much. Bartowski..."

Sarah watched as Chuck flicked his eyes towards Casey then back at Yi.

"Your sister's got to move."

* * *

"Oh-okay, l-listen," Finch stuttered. "These... whoever these people are, they're not with me. They're... They were supposed to be... This was supposed to be honest business-dealings! There wasn't supposed to be death or destruction or maiming or... disfigurement or... _whatever_, all right? So, let's walk out of here, Mr. Yi, you and me, and I'll take you to the physicist. We'll just go and we'll... we'll let these guys be... be _cannon-fodder_ for your... clearly badass team of... people," he said, eying Yi's muscle nervously.

"Where is my physicist?" Yi asked.

"He's... close," Finch said, taking a shuffling half-step backwards.

The guy behind Ellie moved his hand, and, for the first time, Chuck saw the knife that had been held against his sister. His eyes unfocused again. When his vision cleared, he kicked a chair at Yi and rolled the table out of the way, hitting Finch in the knees.

The man behind Ellie tried to grab her, but Chuck's lightning-quick moves from the Intersect 2.0 prevented that from happening. Freeing his sister with one arm, he then shoved her clear of the melee.

Ellie, nearly falling on her wobbly high-heels, watched as Chuck performed moves she'd only seen in those kung-fu movies she'd reluctantly sat through with Devon and his frat brothers back at UCLA. She knew, for a certain, definite fact, that the closest her brother had _ever_ gotten to martial arts had been watching Karate Kid repeatedly as a child.

The things he was doing would've required years of practice. He was performing them like they were nothing, like he'd been doing this his whole life...

Which he _had not_ been doing.

Chuck's kicks and punches and grappling throws were amazing and scary to watch.

Hearing the hi-yahs from another part of the club, Ellie saw Sarah was engaged in a fight with two of the bodyguards herself. As a chair broke, she saw Casey, who had ditched the glasses and jacket, was using the broken pieces to prevent himself from being attacked.

It was all surreal, like watching a movie.

All the rest of the patrons, after the stunned silence wore off, rushed for the exits.

As did Finch.

While Ellie wasn't entirely sure what was going on, she knew that the guy trying to flee the scene was somehow important, and that none of the rest of the team seemed to be paying him any mind.

Leaving her shoes in the club, she chased after him.

She guessed it was the adrenaline that allowed her to keep up with him, to push past the pain of running on the sidewalk in her stockinged feet.

She had a stray thought about her pretty silk dress but let it go just as quickly as it entered her head.

Just ahead of her, Finch took a sharp left, ducking down an alley. He put on extra speed, ensuring more space between them. As she struggled to catch up, he tripped over a fallen garbage can, landing face-first on the pavement.

"Wait!" she yelled as he struggled to push himself to his feet.

He fell back down before ever reaching his full height.

"I said _stop_!" she said.

But, then she realized she didn't have any weapon, any training, any way to contact Casey to tell him where she was because she'd left her purse at her table when the guy with the knife escorted her to Chuck. She swallowed hard.

"All right, all right," he said, holding his hands up in surrender, cowering from her, his eyes on the ground between them. "It... I... Just don't shoot me, okay?"

Ellie nodded slowly. "If you take me to the physicist, I won't shoot you." She guessed he didn't have to know that she had absolutely no way of shooting him. He must've thought she did, though. Maybe it was the darkness. Maybe it was the power of suggestion. Maybe she should've said 'freeze' instead. Did spies use the word freeze? She inhaled slowly, thinking about... cooling racks on her kitchen counter with something deliciously fresh baked resting on them.

"All right," he said, finally chancing a look at her.

Ellie rested her right hand at her side, hoping it looked like maybe she _had_ been holding some kind of weapon.

"This way," he said, leading her further down the alley.

* * *

Casey surveyed their surroundings, nodding. It was on-par damage-wise. A crack clean-up unit could have the club back to normal in no time.

But, there were sirens fast approaching in the distance.

"I've got damage control with the LAPD," Sarah said, brushing off the sleeve of her shirt.

"Chuck, get Ellie out of here. I'll wait with Yi until we've got a containment team," Casey said, wiping the blood from his knuckles on the backs of his slacks.

"Good idea," Chuck said. But, there was just one problem with that. "Uh... Where is she?"

Casey's eyes went immediately to the walls, to the corners, to the overturned tables, where she might've taken cover. He didn't see her.

"Finch isn't here either," Chuck noted.

Casey felt his stomach hit his knees. "The van..."

"What?"

"We can activate Ellie's watch from the van, provided Finch wasn't smart enough to take it off her," Casey said, already halfway across the floor.

"But, what about Yi?" Chuck called out after him, torn between running with Casey and leaving a highly-dangerous nuclear terrorist by himself.

Granted, he was knocked out, but still.

* * *

Casey didn't stop until he reached the back of the van, nearly yanking the door off its track as he slid the side door open. His fingers felt heavy, clumsy as he typed in the security codes and appropriate commands to activate the GPS locator in Ellie's watch.

He wasn't sure if the fact that she was close was comforting or not.

Grabbing the laptop from the counter, he set it in the passenger seat and got behind the wheel, cranking the engine.

The tires squealed as he laid rubber around the club, zipping past the approaching police cruisers and heading for a nearby parking structure.

He almost didn't hear the questioning voice in his ear over the deafening sound of his troublesome thoughts.

"Casey?"

He swallowed hard. "Walker, I think Finch has Ellie. In pursuit."

"Chuck with you?"

"No."

"You should've waited for one of us-"

"No time," he interrupted. "Finch nabbed the physicist in a matter of seconds. You've seen the security tapes. If he knows we're onto him, I'm sure he's got the resources to vanish and I _will not _let that happ..." He drifted off.

"Casey?"

He didn't respond. He just slammed the breaks, stopping the van. Throwing the vehicle into park, he jumped out.

"Casey!" she said more forcefully.

* * *

Ellie didn't gasp when Finch popped the trunk of his silver Mercedes to reveal a gaunt-looking man within. The man looked like he'd been through hell and back. She didn't imagine it was so luxurious in a luxury car's trunk.

She moved forward, her fingers finding his pulse in his wrist. "My name is Ellie and I'm a doctor. Can you tell me your name?"

He tried to get his mouth to move, but his lips stuck together at first. "Nathan," he said finally. "Nathan Y-York."

His pulse was elevated. "Nathan, do you know how long you've been in the car?"

He shook his head slowly as Ellie turned his hand over.

She lightly pinched the skin on the back of his hand, trying to determine the exact extent of his dehydration. She only nodded a little at the results. He was going to need an IV, get some fluids back in him. But, she didn't want to get him out of the car, not without having somewhere to put him, preferably on an ambulance gurney. He was going to need immediate treatment. "You're going to be okay," she promised. "Just lie still until more help arrives, all right?"

Finch, who was pacing back and forth beside the car, running his fingers repeatedly through his hair, suddenly stopped walking. "Wait a second..."

Ellie glanced at him.

"You said... You just said you're a doctor?"

"That's right," Ellie said slowly, not sure why that was such a big revelation.

"You're not... You're not some fed?"

Ellie tried not to let the fear reach her face. Her fast-and-loose agreement in the alley was about to become not so agreeable. "Stay where you are," she said, hoping she still had that authoritative edge to her voice.

"You're... who _are_ you, lady? Huh?" he said, advancing on her.

She started backing up slowly. "Listen, if you would just-"

"No, _you_ listen!" he said. "You aren't some cop, you aren't some agent... you aren't going to arrest me, you're some freakin' _nurse_?"

"Doctor," Ellie corrected.

"You-"

Before he could finish, Ellie saw headlights reflecting off the other cars in the lot. She saw them reflecting _quickly_ off one car and then another, all the way down the line. And then she heard the screeching of the tires as the breaks were hit.

Both she and Finch looked at the nondescript black van, watching as Casey emerged from the driver's side.

"On your knees," he said, his gun aimed squarely at Finch.

Finch just shook his head, scoffing.

Casey wasn't playing. "Right now," he said, cocking the weapon. Casey knew, from the events at the club, that he was no soldier, no hero. He was just an empty suit, a guy with a so-called brilliant idea.

Finch hit his knees.

Casey set about handcuffing him. "You okay, Doc?"

She nodded.

Casey lifted his watch to his lips. "Got Finch. Ellie, too."

"And Nathan York," Ellie said, moving towards the trunk.

Casey yanked Finch off the ground with more force than was necessary, glancing over at the physicist in the car.

"He's seriously dehydrated. He needs to get to a hospital."

Casey reached into the pocket of his slacks, pulling out his phone and tossing it to her. "Westside is the closest hospital. There's rudimentary medical equipment in the back of the van if you need it."

Ellie smiled a little, opening the phone and dialing her ER.

* * *

General Diane Beckman removed her glasses slowly after having read the mission report. She glanced at her computer screen, seeing the faces of her crack-shot team within the protective confines of the Castle. "This mission was designed to rescue a kidnapped scientist, taking one broker and one mid-level buyer... and that wasn't enough for you three. You throw in one of our most wanted for good measure."

"Well, y'know... clearly, Casey's good for Team Bartowski," Chuck said with a grin.

Beckman nodded. "And to be your first mission back since your incident, Colonel. I am most impressed."

"It wasn't just the three of us, General," Casey said. "We might've missed out on rescuing Dr. York and apprehending Finch if it wasn't for Chuck's sister, Ellie Bartowski."

Beckman slid her glasses back on, looking again at the report in her hands. "I am well aware of her contributions, Colonel. Your report was very thorough about her assistance. I'd like an opportunity to thank her personally."

"Given that she's aware of our situation, I'm sure we can arrange a debriefing for her," Sarah said, "while keeping the sanctity of Castle for intelligence officers only."

* * *

Ellie sat on the couch in Casey's apartment, looking at the black screen with the logo for the Directorate of National Intelligence. She'd just spoken with their boss, with their commanding officer. She'd been given the thanks of a grateful nation.

The whole thing had been overwhelming.

All she'd done was her job. And something potentially stupid and reckless, but mostly just her job. Dr. York was on his way to recovery, and the world could go back to sleeping a little easier at night.

Except, no one else in the world knew that they'd thwarted a potential nuclear danger. And no one ever would.

Casey lingered in the kitchen, watching her. "Ellie...?"

She glanced up at him. "Can I ask you something?"

He nodded.

"I saw Chuck do things... things he shouldn't have been able to do."

"It's classified."

"Just... there's no way he had the training necessary to do what he did. That kind of thing takes years and years and... decades, really."

"I can't tell you why or how or... anything about it. It'd be best if you just _forgot_ that you saw that."

"My brother turned into Ryu from Street Fighter. How am I supposed to forget that?"

He shrugged a little.

She chewed on her lower lip as he slowly crossed towards her, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch. "Whatever it is, that's why you're here, isn't it? Why you've been here, why you've... been assigned here...?"

He dodged the question. "You handled yourself well."

"Oh, yeah," she said with a laugh. "I'm getting really good at being held hostage. What is it, twice, now? I must be reaching the high score."

Casey smiled but shook his head. "There was only one thing that... that wasn't right."

Ellie put on her best "Casey" voice. "'Don't run off like that, not where I can't protect you...'"

He shook his head. Hesitantly, he reached out, taking her hand. It looked small compared to his, delicate. "You're worth a great deal to Chuck. To me. Don't forget that," he said, looking up at her again.

She was shocked at the wealth of emotion in his eyes, at the fear, at the concern, at the _love_ that was all wrapped up into one tangled expression. "John..." She was even more shocked at how quickly he shoved it all aside.

"And, next time, when I tell you to leave, _please_ leave."

"Now, hold on," she said, turning on the couch, to sit facing him straight-on. "I did exactly what you asked, which was convince the girls to leave. It was just... they decided I should stay."

"Why?"

"They think that you have the potential to make me happy. And they want me to be happy."

"What do you want?" he asked.

There was an undercurrent of hesitance in his voice, the very edges of that tangled, emotional mess was trying to tumble back into his eyes.

"I..." She swallowed hard. "I want you..." She cleared her throat. "I want you to tell your daughter someday-sooner rather than later-who you are. Who you really are. Not the spy stuff, but the _important_ stuff. The father stuff."

He nodded slowly. "I will."

"And... I want to know where I can get self-defense classes. Because, it's more than clear that being around you and Chuck is rather dangerous to my health and I'm going to need some more of my own skills, just in case."

"I can help there, if you'd like."

"I would like that. Very much." She flipped his hand over in hers, letting her fingertips graze over his skin lightly. "It's just... This has been a lot to process. Nothing is quite... the same... anymore. No matter how much I want it to be like it was, it can't be. There's this new threshold for 'normal' and I just... I just have to get used to it. And it may take time," she said, glancing up at him.

He nodded.

"But... y'know, this new normal thing..." She laced her fingers with his. "Doesn't change how I feel about you."

He smiled broadly.

* * *

One thing he hated was this kind of a detail. The hurry-up-and-wait aspects of the job were terrible. He'd give anything just to be done with it. As he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, he realized he just didn't have the patience for a stakeout.

The parking lot of Westside Medical Center remained fairly busy on a Friday night. There were a couple smokers sitting on the curb. An anxious family milled about on the sidewalk. Logistically, it was a nightmare.

But, again, with the hurry-up-and-wait aspects, this was just a preliminary step. He'd love to just jump in and be done with it. He knew, however, that his boss would be less than pleased if he tipped their hand too early. There was a purpose, a plan, one that had to be executed with surgical precision.

So, as much as he hated to wait, he would do exactly that.

He chuckled as he spotted a late-model black four-door sedan pull into the parking lot, taking an empty spot near the door. It was practically a boat of a car. Idly, he wondered how something like that gas hog could still be roaming California's blacktops. Didn't that pose a threat to the environment?

Because curiosity got the better of him, he lifted his binoculars and watched as the occupant of the car emerged. The man was tall, with black slacks and a pale green oxford.

He lowered the specs immediately, recognizing the man. "Son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath.

John Casey reached back into his car, pulling out a bouquet of brightly colored lilies, hued in brilliant yellows and oranges. Closing his door, he headed for the hospital.

He never would've figured the hard-ass Marine would be much of one for bringing flowers to a fallen colleague. And he'd have known if someone from his team was hurt. Sarah Walker was working a late-shift at the "yogurt shop" and Chuck Bartowski was home.

As soon as he disappeared into the hospital, he glanced at his watch, making note of the time. His mark should be showing up any time now.

He glanced at the file folder in the empty seat next to him. A recent divorcee, the doctor was stunningly beautiful. How she could be of any relation to Chuck was beyond him.

He watched as the smokers finally put out their butts before heading back inside, as the family made another round of phone calls and exchanged hugs and supportive pats on the back. He wasn't too happy when an ambulance pulled up, partially blocking his view of the exit.

But, it was ten minutes later when he saw John Casey emerge from the ER again. He was no longer carrying the flowers. The woman on his arm was. She wore a purple jewel-tone cocktail dress and sensible heels, her long dark hair down around her shoulders.

"I'll be damned," he muttered.

John Casey had brought flowers to his mark.

Pulling out his cell phone, he called a number on his speed dial. He didn't have to wait long for the person to answer. "It's Sullivan. We have a problem."

The voice on the other end sighed. "And what problem is that, Justin?"

"Our original plan to use Ellie isn't going to work. Apparently, she wasn't lonely long."

* * *

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next story, Chuck versus the Second Chance:

As he descended the stairs, he slowed down, spotting Beckman in the center of the room. "General?"

"Colonel Casey..."

He glanced at Sarah and Chuck, who were both leaning against the wall, their arms crossed over their chests. "What's going on?"

"Colonel Casey, you are under arrest," said one of Beckman's detail, approaching the larger man with a set of handcuffs.

"On what charge?" he demanded. He didn't back up the stairs. He remained still, but he wanted to know what the _hell_ he was being arrested for.

The large screen at the front of the room filled with the evidence photos Sarah had been trying to sort out before Beckman arrived. The photos rotated. A broken window. Clear signs of struggle, overturned furniture. Bloodstained carpeting. The glass smashed in a framed photograph of a teenage girl and her mother.

Casey's fear was all-consuming as he recognized the girl in the photo. "Alex?" He looked at Sarah. "Something happened to Alex? Where is she!"

"That's what we're hoping you can tell us, Colonel. Since the CIA is reporting that _you_ took her," Beckman said coldly.


End file.
